


Land of Gods and Monsters

by julieLn33



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Drama, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Princess Clarke Griffin, Protective Bellamy Blake, Slow Burn, enemies to lovers trope but it’s more complicated, multiple povs but mostly bellarke, really long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:20:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25728826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julieLn33/pseuds/julieLn33
Summary: The world had been destroyed by flames.The fire had gone away, leaving only ashes and dust. The only place where the human kind managed to survive took the name Eden, becoming the land chosen by gods.Eden is inhabited by the twelve clans, united by the Griffin family into one kingdom - Arkadia. It had been ruled by them for centuries, until the Lightbournes conquered the lands of Eden, overthrowing the last Griffin ruler. Entire family was killed with only one exception - the maid managed to escape Polis with little Jake Griffin in her arms.Fifty years later, Jake Griffin's daughter is ready to take back what was stolen from her family. But she's not the only one seeking for the throne.***or: Clarke is the last one alive from her family. Being a granddaughter of the last Griffin king, she’s the rightful heir to the throne of Arkadia.Bellamy is just a meaningless boy living in Ice Nation with his little sister. Until he finds out he was meant to be so much more than that.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake & Octavia Blake, Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Octavia Blake/Lincoln, and more - Relationship
Comments: 16
Kudos: 31





	1. | streets of Azgeda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy experienced a lot during twenty three years of his life. Raised on the cold streets of Azgeda, he had seen more of bad then good sides of the world. The only thing that kept him going throughout all those years was Octavia's smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This idea popped into my head when i was watching Game of Thrones, so if you like royal aus, this one’s for you!  
> First chapter is just a short introduction to the story and Bellamy’s character. The story is gonna get up steam in the next chapters, so don’t leave! What else can I say, I really hope you like this one!

**AZGEDA**

The sky was very clear that day. The sunlight was illuminating the crowded streets and melting the leavings of snow. It was a rather rare happening, for the snow was never really gone from Azgeda, not even during summertime.

Bellamy Blake walked down the street with a basket full of vegetables, fruits and bread that would surely be enough to feed him and Octavia for two weeks. Moreover, he even managed to get his sister's favorite chocolate pie. The latter didn't belong to inexpensive or basic necessities, but for once he wanted to give his sister more than the cheapest things he could find on the bazaar. It was Unity Day, after all.

He passed a few more stalls, on his way he bumped into some kids who were running among people, while their parents were buying food for tonight's celebration. Of course, not all of them would go home to celebrate. A lot of kids in the neighborhood didn't have parents or home at all.

Bellamy took a deep breath and stopped by the jewelry stall. He didn't come to it often, but when he did, it wasn't to buy anything.

When Diana Sydney saw him approaching, she looked down and up again, observing his body carefully. He didn't say anything, already used to it. _Suck it up. You're doing it for Octavia_ , he thought, he always told it to himself. It made everything much easier.

"Hello, Bellamy" Diana smiled at him seductively and he forced himself to smile back at her. "What brings you here?"

"It's Unity Day. I have to buy Octavia a present" he said to her surprise. She never thought he would come to her to spend the money, every time he visited her, he would go home much richer than he had been before.

"Really?" she asked, her sweet voice made him sick in stomach. "How are you going to pay?"

"I've got money" Bellamy said shortly, smiling at the clear disappointment that appeared on her face.

Diana Sydney was one of the wealthiest people in Azgeda. She and her husband sold their jewelry in all twelve clans, even in Polis. Bellamy always wondered what a woman like her did selling her goods once a week at one of the poorest market in the whole kingdom. He assumed he may have been one of her reasons.

Bellamy was looking through the rings and necklaces, thinking that one stall was worth much more than he ever had in his entire life. Underneath the golden and diamond jewelry that he would never be able to afford, he found an old, tarnished necklet. It might have been golden and shiny once, but the time must have taken its beauty away. He still thought it had its charm, though. A simple chain with a small round pendant which had an effigy of the animal that was half a lion, half an eagle.

"It's a griffin" he heard Diana Sydney's voice. He could feel her burning gaze on his body, but he decided to ignore it. If he was nice to her, maybe she would let him pay less than the jewelry was actually worth. "Symbol of the Griffin family."

"How much do you want for this?" he asked, watching the battered necklace. All that was left of the Griffins were ashes and pages of history. The Lightbournes made their goal to erase the memory of them, so no people had any sigils of the Griffin family in their houses anymore, as they used to for generations. The necklace Bellamy was holding in his hand may have been one of the few mementos left from the time the Griffins sat on the throne.

"Twenty silver ones" the woman responded. Bellamy raised his brows. He expected much bigger price, so high that would be unaffordable for him. After all, it was a piece of history. However, Diana didn't appear to care about it, she must have considered it a useless piece of jewelry that she didn't want to retain. She probably wouldn't be able to sell it in the higher price anyway - no one would purchase such a thing, for supporting the Griffins was considered a treason. Treason was sentenced by death in Arkadia.

"I'll take it.” 

"This is what you want to give to your sister?" the woman teased and Bellamy had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "I thought you had a better taste."

"It's not for Octavia" Bellamy answered shortly. Playing sweet to her was harder than it appeared to be. That woman was getting on his nerves very easily.

"Oh, really? For whom, then?" Diana asked, her eyes still on his body. He felt like his skin was burning from her gaze, neither in a satisfying, nor a comfortable way. "A new lover?"

"No. For me" Bellamy's eyes wandered back from Diana to the necklace. It wasn't beautiful or marvelous, but it had its worth. History.

If there was one thing that Bellamy Blake really loved, it was learning history. He would find some old, decrepit books with missing pages on the bazaar and buy them. Notwithstanding the low price, sometimes it would cost him his dinner, resulting in him walking around hungry for a few days. He didn't regret buying any of these though, he loved reading the stories about the former kings and queens, learning about the wars and dreaming about going down in history. When he was a child, he thought that it somehow would get him and Octavia a real home. 

He stopped dreaming a long time ago. However, owning something like that necklace, a piece of history for his own, was still an exciting thought for him.

"Alright" Diana Sydney responded after a second or two, she didn't hide her astonishment. Bellamy couldn't blame her, he was quite surprised as well. He never really bought anything just for himself and she knew that. Even the books he purchased, he read them all to Octavia, so she could learn something too. There wasn't a single thing he owned that he didn't share with his sister. "Anything else?"

Bellamy looked through the jewelry and he found a beautiful golden necklace with a red gem, very simple, yet majestic. He was sure Octavia would love it.

"This one. How much is it?"

"Five golden coins" Bellamy saddened, knowing damn well that he could not ever afford that. "For you just two. And you can take the second one for free."

"Thanks" Bellamy smiled and gave her two golden coins. He was probably a fool, giving so much money for such a useless thing, but all he could think about was Octavia's smile he would see after giving her the golden necklace. He grabbed what he bought and turned around, ready to go home.

"You should come by tonight" he heard Diana's voice behind his back, so he turned his head towards her. She sent him a simpering smile. He noticed her legs were a little widened, her skirt pulled up. "My husband isn't in town. I'll pay twice."

"I don't do this anymore" he answered a little sharply and walked away from her stall.

***

It had been a long time since the last day in Azgeda as beautiful as that one. Inhabitants of Ice Nation were familiar with severe weather, nonetheless they wasted no opportunity to get as much sunlight as they could. The sun was certainly there that day, bringing the unusual amount of people to the streets.

Bellamy ran into a few more people on his way out of the market. He was used to the street being overcrowded, it never actually bothered him. Seeing people walking around, children playing in the snow, hearing the hubbub from the bazaar, it all made that place special to him.

He entered the road that led to the main square of the town. There was another way home, the desolate one that led through the woods, but he chose the congested square instead. He liked that place, it held a lot of memories. He would come there a lot with Octavia when they were kids. Their mother was either drunk or prostituing herself most of the time, he didn't want his sister to see that.

Bellamy was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to notice that people were standing in the square, observing something that was happening in the middle of the place. It resulted in him bumping into someone. An orange and a few carrots fell out of the basket and rolled straight into the crowd. There was no way he could get those back. He muttered a few swears under his breath and made peace with his loss. There wasn't much else he could do.

He barged through a crowd, causing a few people to yell at him, but he chose to ignore them. Finally, when he got to the first row, he was able to see what was happening. There were a lot of kids sitting in one place, that was the first thing he noticed. They had food, toys, Bellamy noted that some of them were wearing jackets on their shoulders that didn't look like something anybody from his neighborhood would ever afford. He recognized some of their faces. He was familiar with a lot of people in the district, it wasn't a huge town, after all.

A woman was sitting in the middle of the square, reading some book to the youngest children. Bellamy couldn't help but notice that she was distinctly beautiful. Her face was pale, with a slight blush on her cheeks. Her long, golden hair were loose, with only a few fine braids that created a crown on her head. She was wearing an elegant, dark blue vesture, that gave her an almost royal appearance. He could tell she was a princess, she looked like one.

A gentle smile on her face as she was reading a book to the kids made her even prettier. After the second thought, Bellamy realized that she couldn't be a princess. He'd never seen princess Josephine before, but he was quite sure it wasn't her. There were no guards around her, no sigils of the Lightbourne family. Besides, no princess would care about the common people enough to do something like that.

„What's going on?" Bellamy asked a middle aged woman that was standing next to him. "Who is that?"

"I don't know" she responded with a slight smile on her face, her eyes not on Bellamy, but on a golden-haired woman and the children surrounding her. He assumed that her kids were there, either playing with new toys or listening to the story. "She came here with food, clothes, toys and gave them to our children. I don't know who she is, but thank the gods for her. It's been a long time since those kids were fed." 

"Right. It's been too long" Bellamy looked again at the gathering, his eyes wandered immediately to the smiling girl. He wondered who she was and why she was there. He didn't quite understand it. No one in that world gave anything expecting nothing in return.

A boy that couldn't be older than six years, probably the youngest of them all, was sitting on her knees. He and all the other kids surrounding her were listening carefully to every single word the woman said. It had to be their only opportunity to hear any written story. Many people in the town couldn't read, nor write, nobody cared enough to teach them. He was lucky to know how to do it, he had learnt it from his mother when he was a little child. Years later, he taught Octavia as well.

He decided to stay there a little longer and listen to what she was reading, he didn't have to hurry. Bellamy loved books, he could stay hours in his room and read them if he was ever given an opportunity. After a minute or two, he realized that he had already read that story. She was holding the same book he had bought years before, of course hers was in much better condition, printing much prettier than the one he owned. He recognized the history of the first Griffin ruler uniting all twelve clans and declaring them as one kingdom called Arkadia. Even though he loved reading about it, he considered the story a little idealized. He'd seen too much blood on the streets of his town to believe that Xalvador Griffin united all the clans without much bloodshed. Bellamy had already learned one important thing in his life - people tended to love the taste of blood.

However, children couldn't understand it, not yet. They listened, catching every single word greedily, making sure that not even one disappears in the noise of the square.

"Xalvador united the lands of Eden, bringing peace to the people of all twelve clans. He gave birth to Arkadia we're all living in today" golden-haired woman finished reading her story and looked up, smiling at the kids. Some of them applauded, others only returned the smile.

"What happened later?" the little boy that was sitting on her knees asked, clearly excited and curious about the following events. Bellamy smiled slightly, the kid reminded him a little of himself when he was younger.

"He ruled Arkadia, so did his children and grandchildren" she answered, only then did Bellamy notice the softness of her voice.

"Is it true that he was born from fire?" he heard a question of another boy from the gathering, this one a little older. At that point even some adults started to listen, obviously interested in the answer. People on the streets had always been whispering about the Lightbournes and the Griffins being the children of fire. It was more of the myths and old beliefs than the actual truth. Bellamy didn't believe in any of these stories, he was never a religious person.

„Legends say so" she looked around and their eyes crossed for less than a second. She had beautiful eyes, he couldn't deny it. Big, with the color of the winter sky. He could almost tell that he saw real flickers in them, but he didn't have enough time to look closer. "Some people say he had fire in his veins instead of blood and whenever his enemies made him bleed, they burned from that."

"Really?" a small, brown haired girl asked with clear enthusiasm in her big, dark eyes.

"Don't be silly, Rose" a taller girl standing by her side interrupted her. Her face was very similar to the younger one, a little more mature, but their eyes were the same, they had to be sisters. "If it was true, the Griffins wouldn't be dead."

Bellamy's eyes quickly came back to the golden-haired woman. He was almost sure he saw a shadow of emotion on her face he couldn't really name. He didn't have time to read into that, her face came back to normal just as fast as it changed its expression in the first place.

"It's just a legend" she said, her voice very gentle, her smile a little smaller. "But every legend has a grain of truth."

Maybe she was right. Bellamy wouldn't know.

"Do you know any more stories?" a boy sitting on her knees asked with noticeable hope in his voice.

She answered something, Bellamy wasn't quite sure what she said, he didn't listen, too busy staring at her. He tried to guess who she was. She didn't look like an Azgeda native dweller, not with her golden, wavy hair and ocean blue eyes. Almost every Ice Nation inhabitant had dark and usually straight hair, eyes brown, or even black. It was probably the most characteristic trait of the people living there. But on the other hand, there he was, with curls on his head and skin tone much darker than anybody else who lived in his clan, where everyone's skin was almost as white as the snow lying on the streets.

She probably was an outsider, he assumed. But then again, what would she be doing in the foreign clan? He was pretty sure that poverty was a problem in the whole Arkadia, maybe not in Polis, where only the wealthiest people lived. Why wouldn't she be helping her own people then?

She started reading another story, making kids go quiet again. No, she couldn't be a higborn, no highborn would have a heart kind enough to come to the street to feed poor children and read books to them.

He was just standing there and staring at her, a beautiful stranger, for some more time. He wasn't sure what made her so entrancing to him, he didn't even know her name. Maybe it was a gentle smile she sent to children, or the flickers in her eyes. He wasn't quite sure.

The story went on and even though he enjoyed standing there and watching that situation, he decided it was time for him to leave. He had yetthings to do and a dinner to prepare, as much as he wanted to stay there a little longer, it wasn't an option for him. He faced to the way out of the square, but he managed to make only a few steps before someone ran right into him, making him drop the basket and causing a lot of the products he had purchased to fall out on the street.

 _It wasn't a lucky day for him_ , he thought.

"Charlotte, look what you've done!" he heard a man's voice yelling above his ear, as he quickly kneeled to pick up the dropped things. He felt the attention of the people slowly concentrating at him, so he had to stop himself from coursing, which appeared to be very difficult at the moment.

"I am so, so sorry" a girl that caused the whole trouble kneeled next to him, helping him collect the food from the ground. He lifted his head to glance at her, she looked genuinely concerned, even scared, when she edgily put his things back in the basket. "I didn't want to..."

„It's okay" he mumbled, just wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"I can pay you for that, I can work..." she muttered, he could sense her tears as she spoke. He heard that same man's voice again, hollering at the girl, that had to be a father of hers. She seemed to be frightened just by the sound of his voice and Bellamy instantly felt bad for her.

"Hey" Bellamy grabbed her hand and sent her a soft smile to calm her a little. Her eyes widened in obvious fear as he did it, so he let go of her hand the second he saw that. "It's alright, really."

"It's not, just tell me how much you paid for that so I can-"

"Please, don't" he interrupted her, glancing at the wasted piece of white cheese that was all covered in mud. It was quite a delicacy in his town and he paid for it much more than he'd like to, but when he tasted a bit of it earlier, he decided that it was definitely worth its price. Even so, he wouldn't let the girl know that, it would only make her more upset, he didn't want that. "It's fine. I don't really need this anyway."

"Really? You're not angry?" she asked quietly, her voice was weak, yet relieved. The fact that she was so frightened of his reaction broke Bellamy's heart.

"No. Just help me pick those up."

The girl smiled shyly, gathering the rest of the products from the street. When everything that was still suitable to eat was back in his basket, he got up, ready to go. He turned around to see that the girl wasn't next to him anymore, already dragged by her father in the opposite direction. He knew this wouldn't end up well for her, but the sad truth was, there wasn't much he could do about it.

He looked around, the people surrounding him were slowly taking their eyes off him, he was thankful for that. Yet, there was one pair of eyes still fixated on him. The golden-haired woman was staring at Bellamy now and their eyes crossed for a little longer than earlier. He had some time to really look into them. They were in a cold blue shade, yet still warm. _Eyes are the ocean of the soul,_ his mother used to tell him. Bellamy was never able to read from the person's eyes, he was too uncomfortable with looking someone in them for long. However, he could see one thing in hers very clearly.

 _Fire_.

She sent him a smile so gentle that he wasn't sure if he really saw it. Then a boy sitting on her knees asked her to continue reading the story she must have stopped at some point. She looked back down at the book and only after a few seconds did Bellamy turn around to face the entrance of the square. He headed towards one of the poorest streets in the town, where he lived with his sister.

***

"How come you are such a good cook?" Octavia finished her meal, making sure that she ate every single crumb. "I can barely make a salad."

"Maybe you could make a proper meal if you ever tried" Bellamy teased his sister, taking the dirty dishes from the small table. Their feast was over and he smiled to himself, proud of what he had made. They hadn't eaten such good food for years.

That year was different from the previous ones for Bellamy and Octavia, they finally were out of the woods. Their work paid off bringing a rather stable source of money. They even bought a small cottage, so they had a place they could call home. No luxuries, of course, but Bellamy couldn't dream of anything better at the moment.

"I would" Octavia said with mouth full of chocolate cake, it must have been her third piece. She really did love it. "But I don't want our house on fire. You know I would probably destroy everything around me if I tried cooking."

"Right" Octavia had many assets, but house works weren't among them. He had always been the one to prepare food or do the washing, she was never good at that. "Not a great idea."

"Anyway, I saw Atom today" Octavia started, making Bellamy sight with disapproval. His sister had been going out with the guy for a couple of weeks and he didn't like it at all. Maybe it was something about Atom that bothered him, or maybe just the fact that he dated his little sister.

"You know I don't like him."

"You don't know him, Bell" she interrupted him, clearly annoyed at his behavior. "You met him once and it lasted five minutes."

"That's enough for me" he responded, keeping the casual tone of voice as if the thought of that meeting didn't make his hackles rise. He caught the guy kissing his sister and he definitely didn't enjoy that.

"You can say that you don't like him because I'm dating him."

"Alright, you caught me" he said and Octavia rolled her eyes. Bellamy was overprotective when it came to his sister and she hated it with passion, but that's who he was. "That doesn't change the fact that I don't trust him and neither should you. I'm telling you, that guy isn't anything good."

"At least he knows things and he tells me about them" she stated, completely ignoring his comment. He knew that she didn't take him seriously when he talked about her boyfriend. "Supposedly king Russell is sick. He's probably gonna die soon."

"Tell me again, how does Atom know it?"

"His family lives near Polis. They hear things" Octavia shook her arms as she got up to help Bellamy clean the table. "He also said that he heard some rumors about the Griffins."

"What rumors?" Bellamy frowned, intrigued by her words. He heard that name a lot during one day, a little too many times, he would say, considering that the Griffins had been dead for decades.

"Now you want to know what Atom said." Octavia smiled a little sarcastically and this time it was Bellamy who rolled his eyes. "People say that not all of them are dead. Atom told me that they may be aiming for the throne."

"And you believe that?"

"I don't know" she replied, shaking her arms again. "But you got to admit, the Lightbournes and the Griffins going to war... That would be an epic story to read."

Octavia looked frankly fascinated by the idea, causing Bellamy to smile. He had planted love for history in her mind which made him pretty proud of himself. Octavia absolutely adored listening the stories of the old wars ever since she was a little child and that love stayed with her throughout the years.

When they cleaned up the rest of the dishes, they sat on the old couch near the fireplace. Even though the day had been quite warm compared to the rest of the year in Ice Nation, it still was too cold to spend the night without lightning the fire.

"I've got a gift for you" Bellamy said after a while, taking the golden necklace out of his pocket. He saw Octavia'a eyes widen when she noticed what he was holding in his hand. She covered her mouth with one hand, the other one reached the red gem, touching it very carefully like it was going to break if she pushed a little harder. "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful..." she whispered, a single tear appeared in her eye. "Bell, it must have cost you fortune..."

"Don't worry about that" yes, that probably cost him a dinner or two, but when he saw a smile coming to his sister's face, he knew it was worth it. He helped her put on the necklace and she gripped it a little more confidently this time. "I've always thought that red is your color."

"Thank you Bell" Octavia gave him a kiss on the cheek and bent to take something from underneath the sofa. "I've got something for you too. Two things, actually."

She gave him a small book that must have been new, he deducted that from the appealing printing and the fact that it wasn't decrepit unlike every other book he owned.

"The tales of fire" he read the title that was written with shiny, golden-looking ink. He opened the book to see that every single page was simply beautiful, with colorful illustrations and precise script.

"It's about the word before praimfaya" Octavia said while he was still watching the book. "We never read about that. I thought you'd like it."

"I love it" he looked up and smiled at her. He never had a book that wasn’t a mess. He didn’t even know how she managed to get it, he had never in his life seen someone selling such great printings, not in Troit. He assumed that her boyfriend had something to do with it, but he decided not to ask her about it.

“There’s also something else” she stopped for a second, like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue. “Please, don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be?” he was surprised she would even think that, he always tries his best not to get upset with her, even when she got on his nerves.

“Remember that one trunk of mom’s? The one that we couldn’t open?” she asked and he nodded. Their mother didn’t leave them much after she died, just a few boxes of pretty useless things. One of them was locked and they never opened it, even though it had been years since their mother’s death. “Well, I looked through some stuff and I found the key.”

“What?”

“We can open it” she bent again, this time to take the old, dusty chest. She put it on her knees and pulled the key out of her pocket. He had no idea where she’d found it, he had been looking for it for a year after their mother died and still managed to fail. “If you want.”

“I don’t know” he muttered. He was torn. One part of him desperately sought to find out what was inside, the other wanted to walk away from that. He had decided to block the memories of his mother out years before, he didn’t want to come back to them, to reopen old wounds. However, when he saw Octavia’s hopeful expression, he couldn’t tell her no. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

She put the key in the lock and he could feel his heart pounding. He didn’t really expect them to find anything valuable in there, but the fact that they finally got to open that crate was exciting. Octavia lifted the lid. He saw some old stuff, like hairbrush and a bottle of liquor. What brought his attention was a red envelope lying underneath them. He reached his hand to take it out and open it. He found there a folded piece of paper that looked like some document.

“What is that?” Octavia asked, interested in what he found.

“Birth certificate” he read the header and frowned. He didn’t know much about the birth certificates, he only heard that every highborn had itas a proof of their lineage.

“Show me that” Octavia took a sheet of paper from his hands to read it silently. Her eyes widened in obvious shook. She didn’t make any move for a moment, making Bellamy actually worried. He yanked the document from her hands and she didn’t even react to that.

“Birth certificate” he read out loud. He looked up at Octavia who still didn’t move and came back to the piece of paper he was holding in his hands. “Aurora, the daughter of Kylee and Daniel of house Lightbourne, the king of Arkadia, was born on the third day of August, in the city of Polis.”

Only after a second did he realize what he said. He glanced at Octavia to see that she was looking at him too, shook and confusion in her eyes. His heart was beating faster than ever, as he still tried to process what he had read. 

“It can’t be real” she muttered slowly after a moment of silence.

“It is” he said, his fingers on the burgundy signet at the foot of the document. He showed it to Octavia and she touched it slowly, probably making sure if it was real.

“Bell...” she whispered, her voice trembling and Bellamy couldn’t tell if it was from fear or excitement. “What does it mean?” 

“That means our mother was a rightful heir of the throne” his voice was much calmer than he expected it to be. He read the text that said about Aurora Lightbourne’s heritage again and again, analyzing every single word. _The heir of the throne_ appeared right above the signet, he didn’t make that up. “And so are we.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you like it? I’m a bit anxious about it, so leave some feedback, tell me what you think :)


	2. | the rightful heir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke had only one goal in her life - to take back the throne that was stolen from her family. Being the last living Griffin she was raised to be a queen, yet she lived in the shadows, waiting for her time to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one’s is pretty much a beginning of Clarke’s story 
> 
> And in advance because i’m pretty sure not everyone knows it - Podakru (the Lake People) is one of the clans

**SHALLOW VALLEY**

Darkness had embraced the lands of Eden long hours before. The wooden horse-drawn cart with the royal ornaments stopped by the mansion owned by the Martin family. A middle aged man with long, yet kempt hair got out and straightened his spine after a long journey. Then he offered his hand to a golden-haired woman, helping her get out of the cart. He thanked the cabman and gave him four golden coins. Soon the vehicle was gone, leaving them alone in front of the old manor house.

The man led them on the way to the big, wooden door and knocked on them twice. They waited for a while before a young woman with a friendly-looking face opened the door for them and invited them inside.

"You're late" she said as they walked towards the dining room. "Lord Collins is already here."

"It's okay, Gina" the other woman interrupted her. Her voice was calm and a little hoarse, she used it a lot that day. "Lord Collins _can wait_."

A servant opened another door for them and they walked into a huge hall with a long table in the middle. Three people were sitting at it, their attention immediately focused on the ones that entered the room.

"Marcus Kane!" a tall, wealthy-looking man stood up, it had to be lord Collins. He headed towards the one that just came into the room. He gave him a brotherly hug that was returned with a little less enthusiasm. "It's been years since I last saw you!"

"I've been quite busy" Marcus Kane sent his friend a tired smile. He greeted the Martins sitting at the table and came back to their guest.

"Why are we meeting in such circumstances?" lord Collins asked. He had been informed about the reason of the meeting, however, he wasn't content with the place and the time. "Why not in the Podakru castle?"

"So we can keep some privacy" the voice didn't come out of Marcus Kane's mouth, but from the door, where the golden-haired woman was still standing, her arms crossed. She moved from the place she was at, walking slowly towards the rest of the people in the room. "I don't need the Lightbournes' spies to listen to this conversation."

"I can't believe" the lord made a few steps towards her, his eyes were widened and lips parted, yet he kept a little smirk on his face. "The Griffin princess in the flesh." 

"I am not a princess" she corrected him sharply. "I am the rightful queen."

"Not yet" he turned his back on her to take the glass of wine from the table. She opened her mouth to say something, feeling clearly disrespected, but Marcus Kane grabbed her shoulder in a silent plead to stay quiet. She obeyed, aware that he was right. "There's a long way ahead of you. Now, I don't even know your name."

"Clarke" she said her name with confidence. Lord Collins came back to his place at the table and she followed, sitting opposite him. She sent a smile to the Martins and then her eyes wandered back to the man she was speaking to. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, lord Collins. I heard a lot of things about you."

She wasn't lying. Kane had known Dante Collins for years and told her many stories about him. She almost felt like she already knew the man sitting in front of her, even though it was the first time she had ever seen him.

"I heard only rumors about you, Clarke Griffin" he responded, taking a sip of wine from the silver cup. Clarke poured herself some, for all the servants were ordered to stay out of the dining room that day. It wasn't on the Martins' command, or even lord Collins', but on hers. Clarke Griffin trusted only a small amount of people and the servants she barely knew weren't among them. "People whisper your name on the streets. Tell me, should I trust them?"

"No prudent man should believe in everything he hears" she took a big amount of the bitter liquor in her mouth. "Especially not a lord of one of the clans."

"A lord shouldn't be waiting for so long after being invited" his face showed obvious impatience and annoyance. Clarke wasn't going to give in to him though, listening patiently. "Where have you been? What was so important that kept me waiting?"

"I visited Troit" there was no point in lying to him, she was sure that he would sense the lie anyway. "A town in Ice Nation."

"Why would you travel so far to such an irrelevant place?"

"Clarke always visits poor towns on Unity Day, my lord" Gina answered his question kindly. Clarke could see she was intimidated by that man, just like her parents. Dante Collins was in fact, an intimidating man, she couldn't deny it. "It's an opportunity to bond with the common people."

„Right" Clarke said. Gina was about to say something more, but one look from Clarke was enough to know that she shouldn't. She knew all that Gina wanted was to praise her in front of the lord, but she was sure that wouldn't help at all. A man like him wouldn't be impressed by helping the common, unnamed people." If I am going to be a queen, I need to know my people's needs."

"The common people won't bring you to the throne" he drank some more wine, clearly not interested in the conversation. He didn't respect her at all and it took all Clarke's willpower to stop herself from saying something about it.

"You're right" she noticed that Kane wanted to say something as well, she looked at him and nodded slightly to let him know that she could handle it herself. "That's why I invited you over here."

Dante's face showed a shadow of interest. She had already noted that he was a man who only cared about things when they would profit him.

"The Collins and the Griffins had been in good relations for generations" she continued. "We can keep those relations if you support my claim to the throne and allow me to take over the Mount Weather castle."

"Mount Weather?" he seemed quite surprised by the fact that she demanded it. He must have thought that she'd aim for the royal palace in Polis, Mount Weather was only a Griffin family castle and taking it wouldn't bring her any closer to the throne.

"What kind of queen would I be without a castle?" Clarke responded, gaining much confidence with every second of the conversation. She knew she would turn him on to her offer. "Before I get any army, I need to take my family palace. It's settled on your lands and is watched over by your soldiers. If you let me, I can get it back without any bloodshed."

"Your demands are high" he massaged his forehead and took a big sip of wine, taking a long break before he spoke again, most likely calculating what he could gain from that. "What would I get in return?"

"Whatever you want."

She could feel the Martins' intensive stares on her. She never discussed with them what she was ready to give in exchange for the castle. Clarke was aware that neither Gregory, nor Roesia Martin realized just how important it was, not to mention Gina. Marcus Kane was probably the only one in that room who truly understood that.

"I have a son" he started, after a moment of thought. Clarke already knew where he was going. "He's unwed."

"You want me to marry your son?" Clarke drank some of her wine. She wasn't surprised with his offer, Marcus told her that lord Collins had a son, she was prepared for that. „Is that all?"

„Yes. Marry my son and I'll support your claim. Podakru will stand by you" he stopped for a moment, as if he was making sure that he had made a right decision. "The true queen and the king of Arkadia."

Saying those words, the thought of  
his son as a king, must have confirmed his belief in the choice he had made. Everyone waited for Clarke's answer, even though they already knew it.

"Alright" she said slowly, hear heart beating twice faster than it was supposed to, due to excitement. "Let it be marriage."

Clarke smiled satisfied. She was finally getting back her family castle and an army. A real opportunity to take back the throne, something she dreamt of since she could remember.

"To the rightful queen and the king" Gregory Martin raised his glass and everybody followed him, drinking delicious wine brought from Podakru by lord Collins.

Clarke raised her glass as well, more to herself than to anybody sitting at the table.

"Happy Unity Day."

***

"Are you sure you really want this?" Gina asked as she helped undo Clarke's braids. "A marriage with a stranger."

"This marriage will give me my home back" Clarke responded. Her voice was tired after the whole day of using it. Her eyelids were getting heavy as well, all she wanted at that moment was to lie down and rest. She was glad that the dinner ended rather quickly and she could just go to her room and talk to Gina privately.

"Aren't you afraid?" Gina undid the last braid Clarke had on her head and started brushing her hair slowly. "You don't even know him."

"I'll be fine" she said. She didn't even think about her future husband, but about the opportunities the marriage would give her. "I don't have a choice anyway. This may be the only chance to get back what was taken from my family. Podakru has a huge army and the Mount Weather castle. This is the perfect opportunity."

"So you trust lord Collins with his words? You seemed to not like him very much at the dinner."

"No" she said doubtlessly. People like him should not be trusted, the only thing lord Collins cared about was his personal gain. She was sure that there was no loyalty, no honor in this man. "I think he would betray me the moment he was given an opportunity."

"Why'd you agree on that deal then?" Clarke noticed Gina's consternation in the small mirror that reflected her friend's face.

"I hope that if I marry his son, our alliance will be strong enough" she turned her head to look her friend. "I need to take the risk, Gina."

"I know you do" Gina said softly, her face smiling at Clarke. "Who knows, maybe he's handsome, your new husband."

"Oh, I hope so" she laughed. Clarke knew that Gina was trying to make a perspective of marrying Finn Collins a little more welcoming to her, but the truth was, she wasn't really concerned about it. She had always known that the strongest alliances were made by marriages. Her entire life, she was aware that she wouldn't marry anyone for love, it was a privilege a queen couldn't have. "But after seeing his father, I really dont expect much."

„Maybe he has pretty eyes, at least" Gina responded. "You know they are the most important. Love comes in the eyes."

"Right" Clarke sighted. Gina was a romantic and Clarke was quite the opposite of that. It wasn't for the fact that she didn't believe in love, but because love wasn't for her. She was mindful of the possibility that she'd never grow to love her husband. Moreover, she was fine with it.

Gina finished brushing Clarke's hair and put the hairbrush back in the chest of drawers. She started making the bed for her in silence while Clarke was still sitting on the chair.

"I saw a guy with pretty eyes today" Clarke said after a while. Her thoughts wandered to the man she had seen on the warm morning in Azgeda. There was an unusual depth in his dark eyes that got them stuck in her mind. She was surprised by how much attention she started paying to that. She must have learnt it from Gina. "In Troit."

"They say that the most beautiful people are born in Azgeda" Gina said and Clarke thought that this could be true. There wasn't one person there that she didn't find magnificent. However, there was only one pair of eyes that she had in her mind. "How was Troit, anyway?"

"Scary" she thought of the words she could use to describe it and _scary_ was probably the best choice. "Those people have no food, children don't have clothes warm enough for winter" she stopped for a second, thinking about the kids she saw that day, they couldn't even read. "I don't want my kingdom to look like that."

Gina walked towards her and kneeled in front of her, so that their eyes were on the same level. She cupped her face with hands and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"I'm sure their lives will be much better under your reign" she said quietly. "You should get some sleep. It's been a long day."

Clarke nodded slightly and watched Gina leave the room. Only after a while did she get up to change her clothes. She was about to go to bed when she heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in" she said loud enough for a person behind the door to hear. She saw Marcus Kane coming into her bedroom and closing the door behind him. "Hey."

"Congratulations" he made a few steps towards her. "I told you you'd convince Dante."

"He wasn't hard to convince" she responded while looking in the mirror.

"You don't look pleased" he noted. She wasn't able to hide any emotions from him. He read her like an open book and she wondered how he'd never managed to fail in his assumptions.

"I don't trust that man" she turned her head towards him to see him smiling gently, almost in a fatherly way. "You told me he was a decent person."

"He is" he assured her. "You don't need to like Hammond. You're not marrying him, but his son."

"Have you met him?" for the first time Clarke started to wonder what her future husband was like. She hoped that Finn Collins wasn't similar to his father, she didn't enjoy that man's company. "His son."

Kane sat on the stool next to her.

"Once" he said. "Seven years ago. I liked him."

"Just like his father?" she raised her brows.

"Just like his father" he laughed slightly. "You'll meet him once we get to Podakru. Maybe you'll change your mind once you get to know him."

"Maybe" she forced a smile, even though she knew very well that Kane would notice it wasn't real. She wasn't sad about marrying Finn Collins, no. She was concerned that Marcus didn't seem to share the lack of trust towards the lord of Lake People. "When are we leaving?"

"In a few days" he got up and looked around the room. "Think what you want to take with you, we won't be coming here any soon. You have yet a kingdom to conquer."

His statement reminded her that she didn't need to fear Dante Collins. She was no regular woman, she was a queen, a descendant of the great rulers. What was lord Collins against the Griffin queen, anyway?

Kane headed towards the exit of the room.

"Am I making a right decision?" she asked him before he managed to leave. Ever since her father died, it was Marcus who she could rely on, it was him who she trusted the most.

"Of course you are" he sent her that warm smile again. He stopped for a second, as if he was hesitating whether to continue or not. "Your father... He would be proud of you."

He left after saying those words, leaving her alone. She looked at herself in the mirror, hoping that he was right.

It was the second anniversary of her father's death. They used to live in peace, in the small house placed in the south of Shallow Valley for a huge part of her life. She wasn't brought up as a princess, in a palace with dozens of maids, but her father raised her to be a queen. He used to tell her that when the right time comes, he would give her back the throne that was taken from her family. Every time she asked him when would that be, he said that her time hadn't come yet.

Jake Griffin was poisoned in the late evening on Unity Day two years before. They were having a dinner and suddenly he fell on the ground and never got up again, simple as that. It was a quick death, Clarke assumed that he didn't suffer much. Even if he did, he didn't show it.

Hours after his death that seemed like years to her, she left her home with Kane. Dear Marcus Kane was the best friend of her father's, he witnessed Jake's death as well. They travelled to the far north of Shallow Valley that day, where the Martins lived. Marcus told her once that Gregory and Roesia knew her father. Their family served the Griffins for generations and they continued to do so. They let her stay in their mansion, she ended up spending two years there. She got used to living with them.

Clarke looked around, thinking it would be hard to leave that place. Gina was like a sister to her, Gregory and Roesia treated her like she was their child. Aside from Kane, they were her only family and she didn’t like the perspective of leaving them.

She opened the window and looked at the dark, starless sky. She could feel cool wind brushing her face and her bare shoulders. After those two years she still didn’t get used to the cold evenings of the north. She couldn’t imagine how cold winters must have been in Ice Nation that was notorious for inhospitable weather. One visit there was enough for her to know that Azgeda wasn’t a place for her.

She wasn’t meant to live in the cold anyway. She was a Griffin, born from fire of the old Fayagedakru, her place was in the east, on the throne in Polis.

“My time has come” she whispered to herself as she stared at the gloomy sky torn by the lightning.

***

**AZGEDA**

Bellamy turned his head towards the tiny window to see the thinderbolt ripping through the dark sky. A sunny day ended and there was coming a stormy night.

“Bell, look” Octavia was back from her bedroom with one on their oldest books. She opened it and leafed through the pages. “It says about the Lightbournes’ conquers.”

His sister had been looking through every single book they owned for over an hour, trying to find any information about Daniel Lightbourne. Bellamy, on the other hand, stayed on the couch and watched as the fire was slowly burning in the hearthstone. He still tried to process everything they had learnt that evening.

“Daniel Lightbourne, the son of Xavier the conqueror” she started reading, straining her eyes to see the blurry letters. “Ruled for eight years” she stopped for a few seconds, trying to decipher the faded text. “It says that he was murdered by the Griffins’ supporters, his wife and his daughter too.”

She looked up at him, clear excitement in her eyes while his face was rather emotionless.

“After his death, his younger sister Priya was coronated. Mother of king Russell” she continued. “Everybody thought mom was dead, but she survived. That means... We have better claim to the throne than Russell or his children. _You_ have better claim than anybody else.”

Her words echoed in the room and it took him a moment to realize their weight. _Claim to the throne. Going down in history_. Wasn’t that what he had dreamt about since he could remember?

“What are we gonna do about this, Bell?” she asked quietly, for he remained silent.

“Nothing” he said unhesitatingly after a moment.

“Nothing?” Octavia’s voice was much louder this time. “Bellamy, this is huge!”

“What do you think we should do, huh?” Bellamy raised his voice a little more than he intended to. “Go to Polis and ask Russell Lightbourne to give up his crown for us? I bet he’ll do it with pleasure.”

“I’m not an idiot, Bell.”

“Then why are you acting like one?” he didn’t mean to get angry at his sister, but the fact that she didn’t understand the danger their heritage could bring them frustrated him. “You just read that Daniel Lightbourne was killed. Don’t you understand the danger we would be in if anybody found out? Our mother lived so far from Polis for a reason.”

“Our mother was a drunken prostitute who would rather buy another bottle of wine than feed us” Octavia was getting more and more angry with every word. “We could have lived with dignity and she kept us from that! And you think we should just leave it like that? It’s not fair!”

“Nothing is fair, O” Bellamy got up and approached his sister. He grabbed her by her arms and lowered his head to look at her. “You know I’m just trying to protect us. Please, promise me you won’t tell anybody about this.”

She didn’t answer, instead she walked away from him to hide in her room. He was sure that she would come around and listen to him. She knew that he only wanted to protect her. She just needed some time.

He glanced at their mother’s birth certificate again. A piece of paper with enough power to give them a decent life.

“You’ve never wanted our lives to be easy, haven’t you?” he said as he put the document back in the dusty chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So B & C met for the first time without them realizing it. Bellamy has beautiful eyes.
> 
> I decided to use the primes’ names for the Lightbourne family, also some original characters, I hope that’s okay (they won’t be “regulars” so don’t worry, there won’t be much of them). 
> 
> Also, I created the whole other clan and its culture, more about Fayagedakru in next chapters :) 
> 
> Tell me if you like it and if you have any questions - feel free to ask!


	3. | lost cause

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. I stopped writing and basically dumped the fandom for obvious reasons - the fuckery that season 7 was. But now that I’m over it, I’m back and I have sooo many ideas for this story, so I’m thinking I’ll be posting once a week, maybe even twice :)  
> Also, I sort of changed the concept a little and decided that lord Collins will be more of a regular. So I decided to put Dante in his place instead of an original character, so it’ll be easier for you to visualize him.  
> Anyway, this chapter is not so much action, but it was necessary for the story to go on. More action in the next ones and some Bellarke soon :) Enjoy!

**SHALLOW VALLEY**

Niylah pressed slow kisses on the column of her neck, then on her collarbone. Her lips wandered to her breasts and Clarke let out a quiet whimper. She felt good lying there in Niylah's warm bed, burried in the soft fur, feeling her lover's warm mouth and hands on her body.

"I missed you" Niylah breathed out between another kisses. "You have no idea."

She should be happy to hear it, elated even, but instead she instantly felt bad. It's not like she didn't know that this would end someday. Clarke never promised forever and Niylah knew exactly that there would come a day when their ways had to part. She just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

"Niylah" she whispered, but didn't get any reaction. So she repeated, this time with more serious voice, "Niylah."

The woman looked up at her with hooded eyes and a charming smile that always made her feel better. Not this time though, this time could be the last one when she gave it to her.

"I'm leaving" Clarke said sadly. Niylah's expression was unreadable. She met her eyes for a few seconds, but then she got off her, rolled to her side and looked away.

"When?" Niylah's voice sounded a minute after Clarke's revelation. Clarke couldn't tell whether it was sad or angry, maybe neither of those.

"Tomorrow" maybe it was good that Niylah wasn't looking at her, because Clarke wouldn't feel comfortable looking at her either. She'd never really said goodbye to anybody, so she obviously wasn't good at that. The only person she had to leave was her father, but she didn't have time to say her goodbyes to him. Niylah was the first person she had to see off, the first one she actually cared about.

"Well, where are you going? How long will you be gone?" Clarke felt even worse at her question. Of course she thought that Clarke would just leave for a couple of days, maybe weeks. That's what she did, she kept leaving and coming back. This time was going to be different.

"I'm going home, Niylah" only after a few seconds did she manage to answer. "I won't be coming back."

"Oh" was all that left Niylah's lips. Clarke wasn't sure what she really expected from her. Did she expect tears? Probably. But maybe that was better. It was easier that way.

"I will get married soon" Clarke continued, not sure why she was saying that to Niylah, she had to be the last person who'd want to listen about her marriage.

"Married? As to a man?"

„Yeah" she said what Niylah already knew. It's not like a woman could marry another woman. Relationships like this weren't accepted in most of the clans, people thought it was a crime against nature, against gods. That was one of the reasons why Clarke was never a religious person. She couldn't believe in the gods that made loving another person a sin.

"Who is the lucky one?" Niylah asked and her voice remained emotionless.

"Finn Collins" Clarke tried to imagine herself with her future husband. In a few months, it would be him lying by her side. And she wasn't so sure he would be as caring towards her as Niylah was. "The son of the lord of Podakru."

"The lake people..." Niylah left out a slight laugh. "Maybe he'll teach you how to swim. That's all they're good at."

Clarke wasn't sure if she was allowed to laugh, she didn't feel like it anyway.

"What do you want me to say, Clarke?" Niylah lied on her side and finally looked at her. Maybe it was better when she wasn't looking. Clarke didn't feel so _impatient_ then.

"I don't know" she said truthfully. She didn't know what she wanted to hear. Maybe nothing at all.

"Look, i knew this was coming, but..." she stopped for a second, trying to find right words. "I don't want you to go."

"I know" Clarke could say she didn't want to go either, but that would be a lie. It had been her dream for as long as she could remember and there was nothing she wouldn't do to get it. It was her father's legacy, her legacy. She wouldn't say it out loud, but Niylah wasn't even close to being as important as getting the throne back. "But I have to go."

"I know" Niylah started tracing circles on Clarke's skin. It usually calmed her down, but this time... She wanted her to stop, she wanted to get up and leave already. This goodbye... It was taking too long. "I'm happy for you, you know?"

Clarke didn't say anything in response. She supposed Niylah was happy for her. But then again, did it really matter to her?

"I'm glad it's just Podakru. If you had to marry anyone from Azgeda..." Niylah continued. "You know what they say about them. They're not good people."

Azgeda in fact was told to be the coldest clan not only for the weather. Clarke heard a lot about the people from Ice Nation, she heard that they were violent, not peaceful at all. Savages. She thought about her recent visit in Troit. What she saw there, it pretty much applied to the rumors.

But then she thought about that one guy she saw there, his warm smile and pretty eyes. He seemed like a genuinely good person, but maybe he was just an exception. She supposed that if there were more exceptions like him, the highborns weren't among them. If she was to marry a man from Azgeda, it wouldn't be someone like him.

"Right" Clarke said after a moment, only to fill the silence.

"Can you at least stay here tonight?" Niylah changed the topic, her lips were back on Clarke's jaw, leaving warm kisses as she spoke.

"No" that was a lie. She could stay there, for a few more hours at least, but she really... Didn't _want_ to. It's not like she didn't care about Niylah, because in some way, she did. But she already said her goodbye to her, so there was no reason to prolong it. "I have to go."

Clarke got up from the bed and started putting her clothes back on. She could feel Niylah's gaze on her back as she buttoned up her dress. She was already at the door, when she heard the other woman's voice. "What if I came with you?"

Clarke turned her head to her. Did she want Niylah to come with her? It would be easier for her, to have her lover by her side in the foreign place. But the truth was, Clarke didn't want her to come. There were so many other things she was concerned at the moment and considering her marriage, Niylah would only be another problem for her.

"Goodbye, Niylah" Clarke smiled at her one more time before she turned around and left. If this is how goodbyes looked like... Well, they weren't as hard as she thought they'd be.

***

**AZGEDA**

Bellamy was finally coming home after a long day. He was sure his sister wasn't there yet, probably busy seeing Atom. He tried not to think about that much, hating the idea of his sister having a boyfriend.

It had been three days since Unity Day, Octavia still wasn't talking to him. She wanted to do something about their newfound heritage, he knew she did, but he couldn't let her. It would only bring danger to them and she had to understand that. She would, eventually.

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about it himself. For the past three days it had been the only thing on his mind. At first he thought it was just a dream, he wasn't sure whether a good one or not. Then he slowly started to realize it was real. He analyzed every single word on that document, trying to find an answer, but he didn't even know what his question was. _How?_ was the only one that came to his mind.

If he was a heir to the throne, why was he even there, in Troit? There had to be a reason their mother hid it from them. There had to be a reason they didn't live in the royal palace in Polis, but in the cold north of Azgeda. There had to be.

He turned left to the narrow street that led to their cottage. It was usually empty, but this time he saw someone curling up a few feet away from him. A child, probably.

"Hello?" he called, causing the girl to lift her head and look at him. Bellamy recognized her face, it was the same girl that ran into him on Unity Day, only this time she had an awfully looking black eye. She shivered when she saw him approaching, so he slowed down. "Hey, it's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you."

She nodded slightly, he took it as a sign that he was allowed to come closer. He kneeled next to her, moving very slowly so he wouldn't scare her. "What are you doing here?" he asked, making sure that there's enough space between them.

"I have nowhere to go" she said quietly. „It's not as cold here as everywhere else."

"What's your name?" he asked her. Even though he was tired and all he wanted was to go home and fall asleep, he took all his effort to put a smile on his face. She clearly needed help.

"Charlotte."

"Charlotte" he repeated. "I'm Bellamy."

She didn't say anything in response.

"Look, Charlotte" he continued. "I live nearby. If you want to, you can come by. I can give you something to eat." He tried his best not to sound like a creep he had always warned his sister about. He heard a lot about people kidnapping children just to sell them as slaves. He didn't know how much truth was in that, but better be safe than sorry.

There was silence between them again and when he though that the girl wouldn't agree, she nodded and got up. "Okay, come on" he said and she followed him.

He led her on the way to his house. They walked in silence, Charlotte didn't say anything and he didn't want to force her to do so. They walked through the door. As he expected, Octavia wasn't home yet.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her.

"Yeah" she responded, looking around the small living room. There wasn't much to look at, just a couch, fireplace and a small table next to the door to the kitchen.

"Wait here, I'll bring you something."

He walked into the kitchen, a really stark room with nothing but a table even smaller than the one in the main room and the oven. He looked for bread, it didn't last long until he found it. He grabbed a bottle of not so fresh, yet still bearable milk and headed towards the living room. The girl was sitting at the table, staring at the cold, almost white sky through the window.

"Here" he gave her what he brought and she took it eagerly. He watched her as she was _devouring_ the bread like she hadn't eaten for days and he realized that maybe she really hadn't had anything in her mouth for a long time. He noticed she relaxed slightly when she was done with her meal.

"Thank you" she said after she took the last sip of milk, her voice a little louder and more confident this time.

"What happened?" he risked that question and pointed at her black eye. "Who did this to you?"

"It's nothing" the girl shook her head and looked down at the table.

"It's not" he replied, raising his voice more than he intended. The girl shuddered. "Look, I can help you. If you want me to."

"You don't have to."

"I can't let you out of here knowing you're in danger" he said, his voice was much calmer this time. He wasn't lying. If growing up in Ice Nation with a little sister to take care of taught him anything, it was empathy. Bellamy'd seen a lot. He knew how harsh life could be there and if there was anything he could do to help a child, he was willing to do it. It was probably a fatherly instinct he got from raising Octavia, the one that never really left him. "Was it someone from your family? Your father?"

Charlotte hesitated, but then nodded slightly.

"Did he kick you out of the house?" he asked softly and she nodded again. Bellamy sighed. "You shouldn't come back there, you know?"

"It's not what you think" she responded. "My dad... He's a good man."

"Good men don't beat their daughters" he interjected. He couldn't possibly imagine, how horrible person that man must have been to make his daughter like this. Bellamy would never, _ever_ lay a hand on his little sister. He would never so much as think of hurting his child if he had one.

"I mean it" the girl protested. "It's not like he's just a drunken abuser."

He knew quite something about that. His mother may have never hit him, but she sure did spend almost everything they had on another bottles of liquor.

"He served in the king's army" she continued and Bellamy was surprised by how open she became. "Fifteen years. It's longer than I live."

"That doesn't change anything" he shook his head. He didn't know how the fact that the man was a soldier was supposed to make him a better person, but he understood where she was coming from. Soldiers were valued in Arkadia. In Ice Nation, they were treated with almost the same amount of respect as the Griffins and the Lightbournes. Almost like gods.

"You don't know him" she kept defending him. "It was his whole life. Since he was discharged, he's got nothing left. It's been hard for him."

Bellamy stopped the urge of asking, _so what?_

"Why did he get discharged?" he asked instead. From what he’d heard, once a man got to the royal army, he stayed in it for the rest of his life.

"For a theft" she replied. "A small one. But it cost him his whole life and now he's trying to get it back. I can't blame him," her fingers wandered to the visible bruise under her eye. "He just... Takes out his anger."

Just the way that girl was talking about her father and defending him even though - Bellamy could guess - the man made her life a living hell, it was heartbreaking. She clearly didn't know it wasn't okay, she didn't know life didn't have to be like this. But then again, how could she know? Half of the kids in the town starved, tons of them didn't have a roof over their heads. Charlotte must have felt pretty lucky to have at least that.

"Look, Charlotte" he kneeled next to her, so that their eyes were on the same level. "It doesn't matter. Your father should never, _ever_ hurt you like this. You can't go back home."

"I have to" she said with hearable sadness in her voice. "I have nowhere else to go."

She was right. It was her home and she had to go back. Bellamy wasn't her savior, he didn't have enough power to help her.

"Alright" he got up from his knee. "If you want to go, then go. But if anything like this happens again," he pointed at her face, "You come here. Maybe I'll be able to help."

The girl smiled at him for the first time since he saw her. It was heartwarming to see it, but the black eye ruined the image. "I have some leftovers from Unity Day" he added. "I'll bring you some chocolate cake."

She nodded at him and he headed to the kitchen. It took him a couple minutes to find the cake. Octavia made sure to hide it well so he wouldn't find it and more would be left for her. Bellamy laughed to himself. _She really did love it._

He cut two pieces - one for Charlotte, one for himself - and made sure there was still plenty of cake left for his sister. He grabbed the plates and made for the living room. When he walked through the door, he saw that Charlotte was no longer sitting at the table. She was now on the couch next to the fireplace, looking through the things in the wooden box that lay there since Unity Day.

Only did Bellamy realize what she was doing when he saw the red envelope in her hands. The envelope with his mother's birth certificate.

„Hey, what are you doing?" The girl almost jumped at the sound of his voice and quickly tossed the envelope back to the box.

"I wasn't-" she mumbled, walking away as fast as possible.

"You shouldn't look through my stuff" his voice sounded much colder and and angrier than he intended, but he couldn't help it. His nerves took over him. She could have opened that envelope, she could have read what was inside. And then, he didn't know what would happen next. Nothing good, he supposed.

"I... I'm sorry" the girl looked genuinely afraid of him when he approached her, so he stopped immediately. He didn't _mean_ to scare her like that. "I should just leave."

"No, Charlotte, wait-" before he could say something more, the girl stormed out of the house. He couldn't stop her, he didn't even try to.

He walked to the box left on the couch. The red envelope was slightly open. He grabbed it to make sure the document was there and he felt his heart stop in his chest when he found nothing inside.

_It was gone._

***

**POLIS**

The clock chimed six, causing the bells to ring. The royal family sat down at the table in a spacious, ornate dining room. John always thought it was a little over-the-top. But it was a royal palace, after all. It _had to_ be over-the-top.

Russell sat down on his chair coughing heavily. From what they knew, his disease wasn't contagious, that's why they still met in the dining room every day. But it was deadly for sure, the healers said the king will die eventually, maybe in a few days, maybe in several years. How long would he actually live, it was a lottery at that point.

"Have you heard the news?" Simone asked her husband breaking the silence. They were always silent when they were together. The rare occasions they talked, it was always some small talk about politics. "The Griffin princess made an alliance with Dante Collins. She's now on her way to Mount Weather."

John listened to it bored. The Griffin princess, that was probably a bigger deal than he thought. After all, she was the only one left from that family. He would think she was a threat to them, but for two years they knew that she was still alive, his parents didn't worry about her much. So he didn't bother about her either.

"Why don't you just have her killed?" Josephine asked like it was just a casual thing to do. Well, it was casual for them. Being the rulers of Arkadia... It required beheading someone from time to time, spilling some poison here and there.

"We can't afford a war with Podakru now" Russell stated surely. "She's not a real threat anyway. She's all by herself, she won't get far. Besides, the Lake People hate the Griffins, let them handle it."

John wasn't quite sure if it was a right political move, but then again, he wasn't good at politics. He didn't have to be. The throne would belong to his older sister someday, not him.

"If you say so, daddy" Josephine said making John roll his eyes. She always referred to their father like that and he wished she knew how ridiculous it sounded. "I just think it would be better if we eliminated her right away."

"Sometimes it's better to hold back and wait, Josie" Simone smiled at her daughter and that was a smile reserved only for her. John never got one of those. "But it's good you're concerned. Your brother doesn't seem to care."

"I thought you said she wasn't a threat" he forced a smile. Yeah, his sister was definitely their parents' favorite. "Why would I be concerned?"

"She may not be a threat," his mother was already annoyed with him, he could tell. That wasn't unusual for her, he wasn't a perfect child like his sister was. Not in Simone's very _royal_ perception of this word. "But she's a Griffin. That's enough to be concerned."

"It's not my problem" he snapped. He was already annoyed as well. "Josie is going to be a queen, not me. If the Griffin girl gives us some trouble, well, I won't be the one who has to deal with it. Am I right?"

"That's why you'll never sit on the throne" Josephine broke in with the most vicious smile on her face. "You _don't know_ how to deal with anything."

"And you do" he grunted. "You dealt with Gabriel Santiago _just fine._ "

Josephine looked pissed. Mentioning her former lover and now enemy always had her mad. "How dare you-"

"Can you stop fighting?" Russell stopped there argument before it managed to escalate and that would happen very soon. "We're having a meal together. Let's enjoy it."

John stopped himself from rolling his eyes again. His father never cared about them enjoying their meal together. Maybe his sudden concern had something to do with the fact that he was practically dying.

They continued eating in silence and John would be lying if he said he wasn't fine with that. At least he didn't have to listen to his parents praising Josie and being completely disappointed with him.

Ten minutes have passed and none of them said a word. The silence was getting pretty heavy, not that he wasn't used to it. When he thought that he would much rather attend some execution than that dinner - at least he wouldn't be so bored - a servant entered the room and headed straight to Russell. He gave him some note and said something only the king would hear. Then he left.

"Leave us alone" Russell demanded and all the servants around them started leaving obediently. John got up as well, sure that whatever his father wanted to say to his family, it didn't have anything to do with him. It never did. "You're staying" he added looking at him, so he sat back down.

"I got a message," Russell started when he was sure all the servants left the room. He was stoic, but something in his voice betrayed that he wasn't so calm inside as he was outside. "Apparently my dear cousin was found in Azgeda" he got straight to the point.

"Cousin?" Josephine seemed genuinely confused, much like the rest of them. "What do you mean, daddy?"

"Daniel, my mother's brother" he explained. "He had a daughter. She disappeared after the assassination."

John frowned. Yes, he knew that Daniel Lightbourne and his wife were killed. He thought their daughter was dead as well.

"Russell, I don't understand" his mother was as disoriented as he was. It was probably the first time when he wasn't the only clueless one there. "I thought she was dead. Everyone says so."

"I thought so too" his father seemed truly worried, in fact, John hadn't seen him so concerned for a very long time. "There were rumors saying that she was seen there over twenty years ago and even that she was the reason of the war with Ice Nation, but they all died down after the king of Azgeda was defeated in the battle. My mother told me we had nothing to worry about. But we never knew if she really died and now... It turns out she didn't."

"How do you know that?" Simone still didn't seem to understand.

"Look at this" Russell tossed some document to her and she started reading it silently. What was going on was still a mistery to John.

"It's a birth certificate" she said putting the document down. Since no one was interested in it, John grabbed it and started reading. _Aurora, the daughter of Kylee and Daniel of house Lightbourne, the king of Arkadia, was born on the third day of August, in the city of Polis._ "It doesn't mean anything."

"I also got a letter" the king responded. John looked up at his father who was holding another peace of paper, a less formal one. "From a man who found this. He used to serve in the army, so he swore to be loyal and truthful to me. My soldiers are smart men, they know what kind of threat to the realm a newfound heir could be..." he trailed off. "Considering this and the document he sent... It can't be a lie."

"She can still be dead" Josephine pointed out. "Just because she used to live there, doesn't mean she still does."

"She can be dead" Russell agreed, but that didn't change his uneasy expression. "The letter doesn't say anything about her. It says about her children."

"Children?" Simone was surprised, as if the fact that the woman had children was the strangest part of it.

"Two, to be exact. There is even a name and a description of one of them."

"That guy must be really desperate to sound credibly if he even gave description" John butted in. „Maybe he should have added a drawing too."

"What are you going to do about it?" Josephine asked ignoring his comment and they all looked at the king.

"Send my guards to Azgeda" Russell answered without a doubt. "Bring them here to see if it's really true. And if it's needed... Kill them."

"Good call" Simone commented. "It's better to kill them before they can cause us any trouble."

"I think it's the only right thing to do" Josephine added. It was no surprise they both immediately agreed to what Russell decided. They always did.

"Well, what do _you_ think about it, John?" his father asked him and he couldn't be more surprised. He was never asked about his opinion.

"Me?" he asked unsurely, he couldn't believe he actually got to say something. Russell nodded. "Is it necessary?” John cleared his throat. “They're just two kids in Ice Nation with no idea of power and no one to support their claim. I think they're pretty harmless."

"Sometimes the one you think is harmless can be the biggest danger for you, John" Russell said calmly before he coughed again. "You can't underestimate your enemy."

"They're not our enemy" John protested. "They're practically our family."

"Family, enemy... They're all the same, if power is at the stake. If they're not just a couple of bastards, they have a better claim than we do. I'd call that an enemy."

"I'm just saying that they have nothing" he didn't give up. "The Griffin girl is much more dangerous than them and you're ignoring her"

"That's because I know much more about politics than you do, son." Of course his father knew more than him and _of course_ he was willing to remind him of that, like he always did. 

"But-"

"I made my decision" his father said and John went silent. He could have expected that, it always ended like this with his parents. He guessed it was the price to pay for being a part of the royal family. Josephine smiled down at him. She won again and she didn't even have to fight for that. He wished he could tear that smirk from her face.

He grabbed the letter his father left on the table and since no one objected, he started reading it. First thing he noticed were terrible spelling mistakes in every sentence, it took him a second to make out the words from that, but he managed. The letter said about two siblings. Whoever sent it, must have seen only one of them, because only one was described. _Dark skin, dark curly hair, medium height._ The other sibling was a woman, that's all the letter said.

John wondered what that Bellamy guy and his sister were doing at the moment. Did they expect the attack from the king? Or maybe they lived in blissful ignorance?

Even though he knew it was impossible for them to get away, that they were a lost cause, deep down he hoped that his father wouldn't get to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing Murphy’s pov and it’s gonna happen once in a while, hope you’ll like it as much as I do :)


	4. | whatever it takes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mild description of violence here. nothing worse than what we’ve seen in the show, but i’m still warning

**AZGEDA**

For the past week, all Bellamy was doing was trying to track Charlotte down. The girl seemed to vanish completely, he looked for her in the entire town, but he failed to find her.

Whatever she did with his mother's birth certificate, it couldn't be anything good. He wondered if she'd done anything at all, maybe she just took it because it looked valuable? God, he hoped that was it.

He was now sitting on one of the creaky benches on the square, accompanied by an old lady who was knitting. The day was pretty cold and he was wearing only a thin sweater, definitely too light for any day during the year in Ice Nation, even in the summer.

"You look miserable, boy" he heard a voice, it took him a moment to realize it was an elderly woman next to him talking. "What is it that you're so worried about?"

"Just some family business." He sent her a warm smile, seeing she was visibly and genuinely concerned.

"Oh, family can be real pain in the ass." She seemed clearly amused by his shocked reaction to her words. "What? Too strong words for an old lady?"

"No, ma'am" he muttered and she laughed slightly at his abashment.

"There's no need for you to call me like that, kid" she said. "Now tell me, what's that family trouble?"

"You wouldn't understand." He didn't mean to be rude to the woman who was nothing but nice to him. But there was no way in hell he was telling her about his problems. Too many people knew about it already. And it's not like it was something he could trust anybody with. "It's... Complicated."

They fell into silence, her coming back to knitting, him staring at the open space of the square.

„That's a pretty book you have here" she said after a few minutes with a warm smile on her face, pointing at _The Tales of Fire_ lying on his lap."Have you read it yet?"

"No" he responded truthfully. He tried to read something from the book his sister had given him for Unity Day, but he couldn't focus, it was the last thing he could think about. "It looks interesting though."

"It's about Fayagedakru, right?" she asked and he nodded. He had already managed to see that the book was a bunch of stories and legends about the so called thirteenth clan. He didn't know much about it but the fact that it was completely destroyed after Praimfaya. "Those bastards."

"Why'd you say so?" he was pretty surprised by her statement. The last People of Fire were worshiped in Arkadia, after all the Griffins and the Lightbournes were one of them.

_He was one of them as well._

"I'll tell you something, kid. You should never trust people who play with fire."

"What do you mean?" he wasn't quite sure what she was referring to. He wasn't familiar with the history of Fayagedakru, he never owned a book that would say something about it.

"These people brought the fire that destroyed the world" she explained. Bellamy assumed she was talking about Praimfaya, the fire that almost caused the word to end. He only heard some people saying it was sent by the Fayagedakru, but he didn't really believe it. "And they will do it again."

"I thought there was no Fayagedakru anymore. They're dead."

"Not all of them" she looked up at him from the knitting she was doing. "The Griffins, the Lightbournes and all those nightbloods, they're still here."

He had no idea what _nightblood_ meant, but he didn't ask, he didn't want to seem stupid. It probably wasn't important anyway. He was much more interested in the fact that she said about the Griffins. He'd heard a lot about that family lately, Octavia told him about the rumors she'd heard, but he refused to believe them.

"The Griffins?"

"Don't tell me you believe they're really gone, son." Bellamy felt horribly stupid when he talked to the woman, realizing how little he knew about the world that surrounded him. "They'll come back eventually and they will bring a war upon Arkadia."

He felt more and more dumb with every word that was said, but he wanted to understand her point of view. “How can you know it?”

"That's just what they do" she said. "The fire people. They bring fire and death. Eden will never be a safe place if even one of them is alive."

Bellamy tensed. _They bring fire and death._ Was that all who he and Octavia were? Was that what they were born to do?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, kid." The old lady had to notice his consternation. She glanced at him and her eyes stopped at his hands. He could tell her eyes widened for a second. He assumed she noticed the small black scars on his hands that he got when he was working. She didn't say anything about it though, she sent him a smile instead. "You look cold. Maybe I should make a sweater for you."

He was about to say something when all of sudden, he noticed a person he tried so hard to find. Charlotte was running towards him. "Bellamy?"

He got up quickly and faced her, prepared that she might run away again. He didn't know what to expect from her. “Charlotte.”

"I- I did a bad thing" she started, staring at him fearfully and Bellamy froze. He already knew where this was going. "That document about your mom, I took it."

"I know." His voice was emotionless, even though his heart was racing. "Where is it?"

"I- I gave it to my dad" she was almost crying at that point, but Bellamy couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for her. "I thought it was something important and that he'd let me back to the house..."

"Charlotte, where the hell is it?" he almost screamed at her, making her cower. He felt bad for it, but that didn't matter at the moment. The important thing was that they were possibly in danger. _Octavia was in danger._

"He sent it to Polis" she whispered.

"Polis?" he sluttered out after a few seconds. Out of all possible scenarios, it was the worst that could happen. King already knew they were there. And Bellamy was damn sure that he wouldn't care to keep the people who had better claim to the throne than he did alive.

"Dad said it would get him back the position in the army" she started explaining herself. "But when I asked him what would happen to you, he said they... He said they'd probably hurt you... I'm so sorry, I didn't know-"

 _They'd hurt you_. Bellamy didn't trust Charlotte or her father at all, but he trusted that the man, after serving so many years in the army, knew how it worked there. If he openly said they would hurt them, then they would. They would hurt Octavia. No, he couldn't let that happen.

"Don't" Bellamy stopped her and she went silent immediately. He came back to the branch to pick up the book he left there. The old lady was watching the situation and when she saw him approaching, she smiled at him slightly, looking like she knew _exactly_ what was happening.

"See?" she said. „All they do is destroy. You better run, boy."

She didn't look like she was surprised by the fact that the king himself sent his guards to track him and his sister, just two unnamed kids, down. He didn't have time to dwell on that though, he needed to make sure Octavia wouldn't be harmed.

It was just him, a small, meaningless boy against the king and his realm.

***

Bellamy didn't have to think twice about who to ask for help. He wished he didn't have to get anyone involved, but there was no way he could handle it alone.

He walked down the street, heading to the bazaar. He saw the person he was looking for, but right before he could go and talk to her, he noticed a few men - three, at least - in the shiny armors and red capes. It didn't take him a long time to realize they were the royal guards and they were most likely looking for him.

Bellamy quickly hid behind some stalls, hoping the guards wouldn't see him. He didn't know how much they knew about him, but with his curly hair and toned skin color, he was distinctive. If they saw him, they would probably notice he wasn't _just_ a regular Azgeda inhabitant.

He watched from the distance as they approached Diana Sydney and most likely started asking her some questions. He wasn't surprised they went straight to her. Despite not being a highborn, she was a powerful woman with powerful friends. She knew things.

Bellamy was more than sure they were asking her about him and Octavia, he could reason it out from the confused look ok her face. He could only hope she wouldn't tell them anything, because that woman knew a lot about him. If she started talking, he might as well go straight to the guards and turn himself in.

When she looked up, she noticed him somehow and their eyes crossed. He shook his head in the silent plead. _Please_ , he mouthed. He was ready to get on his knees and beg her if he needed to.

He couldn't hear what she was saying, but it seemed that she sent them off, because they walked away. Bellamy made sure they were gone before he approached Diana. "What have you done?" she asked him the second he was close enough to hear her.

"I need to get out of here" he blurted, avoiding answering to her question

"Troit? It's not hard."

"Azgeda."

"Yeah, right" she let out a slight laugh, like she didn't believe he was serious. "And you're telling me this because..?"

"Diana, I'm serious. I need your help."

She frowned. Bellamy knew that she didn't necessarily _want_ to help him go anywhere. She had a sort of soft spot on him, she liked having him around. She liked looking at him, or _touching_ him when she had the possibility, he was probably the only reason she was still coming to Troit so often. Bellamy knew all that.

"And why would I help you?" she turned around, obviously uninterested in what he was saying. _Of course_ she wouldn't help him for free. If she was going to do anything for him, she had to make sure she'd get something in return.

"Look" he grabbed her hand and she immediately turned her head back to him, raising her brow. Bellamy sighed, knowing exactly where it was going. "I'll do anything."

***

Bellamy was willing to do everything it took to protect his sister. Everything.

He was fourteen when they lost their mother and shortly after that - their house. They were left with nothing. They ended up on the streets, with only a few boxes of their mother's worthless stuff; they wandered from one door to another, hoping someone would have mercy and let them stay. Sometimes they found a place to wait the night out, but most of the times they fell asleep curled up in some corner where there wasn't much snow, Bellamy wishing he could give all of his heat to his little sister.

He met Diana Sydney by accident, a couple of months after his mother died. He was on the square with Octavia when he heard someone talking about that rich woman who sold jewelry looking for someone to work for her. Back then he didn't know what kind of job would that be, but he didn't care much. They needed a stable source of money to survive, so he went for it.

When he first saw her, she intimidated him a lot. She was a powerful, grown woman in her mid thirties, he was just a fourteen years old boy. He remembered the way she looked at him, with that seductive smirk on her face.

" _I need a job_ " he said, trying to sound more confident than he looked. He didn't necessarily have a body of an athlete back then, nothing near that. He was thin and boyish. He was weak.

" _Everybody does_ " she responded, scanning his body. " _The question is, what are you willing to do to get it?_ "

" _Everything_ " he stated without a doubt. He wasn't lying. There wasn't a thing he wouldn't do for Octavia.

" _Great_ " He remembered that moment very well, he remembered how she tilted her head to the side and spread her legs, lifting up her dress. He remembered the look in her eyes, that dark, hungry look. " _Take off your clothes. Prove me you're worth it._ "

Bellamy remembered he was scared. Being a fourteen years old kid, he didn't have any experience with women, he wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to do anything. But Diana didn't seem to care about any of these, so, with his weak, shaking arms, he slowly took off his shirt and approached her.

He supposed this was how it started for his mother. He told himself it was just that one time, that he wouldn't do this anymore. But then Diana wanted him to prove her more, she promised him a lot of money, so much he would be a fool if he rejected her. He needed that money to buy Octavia food. So he kept coming to her and then to other people too. Bellamy would never think that there were so many people - both men and women, all of them at least twice his age - who would pay fortune just to screw a teenage boy.

It's not like it was the only thing he did. Diana actually got him a job, he worked for her for nearly eight years, he could call himself a sort of her personal guard. It was more than that though. He was basically her errand boy, taking care of her grunt work. If she needed someone to be beaten up, he went to beat up the person. And if she needed someone to fuck, he had to be there for her. He never liked either of those, but she paid him a lot, so he wasn't about to quit.

It was never easy. But every time he felt like he was done with it, he thought about Octavia. He did it for her. He always did it for her.

So now that he crawled from Diana's bed, he didn't really feel anything. He was used to that. He wasn't exactly proud of himself since he stopped working for her nearly two years ago, back then he promised himself that he wouldn't do it again. He didn't like any second of being with her, but if it bought him Octavia's safety, he wasn't going to complain.

"You were even better than I remembered" Diana giggled, watching him as he quickly got dressed. "I missed having you in my bed."

"I don't have time for this" he grunted, sounding not friendly at all, but he knew she felt too blissful to get offended. "I did my part. It's your turn."

"Alright" she stood up from the bed and approached him, not bothering to put any clothes on. She stopped right behind him, putting her hands on his arms and lifting her head to his ear. "Where do you want to go?"

Bellamy felt all of his muscles tense. He didn't like the effect she had on him, it was thrilling in a very unpleasant way. He could feel her power, the control she had over his life. He just knew he couldn't say no to her and that may have been the reason he hated her touch so much.

"Trikru? A land of beautiful and wild women" she whispered to his ear making him shiver. "Men too."

"I need to go somewhere far from Polis" he finally cut off, done playing her games. He needed to leave as soon as possible. "And far from here."

"Trishanakru might do it then. It's far and the Lightbournes don't get invested much in there."

"Good." He made a step forward to get away from her touch. "When are we leaving?"

"Come to the square in the evening" she said as she reached her clothes and slowly started putting them on. "I'll provide you transport to the coast and then you'll get on a ship to Trishanakru. You shouldn't have any problems on the way there."

"Good. Thank you."

The shiver ran through his spine at the thought of hopping on the ship and leaving Azgeda once and for good. He'd never left Ice Nation, hell, he'd never seen a sea in his life. It would be more difficult than he supposed, but on the other hand, he couldn't help but feel excited about it.

"Don't thank me" Diana said. "You're not gonna like it there. You will wish you never left."

"And why is that?" He glanced at her, furrowing his eyebrows at her words. He didn't think that Trishanakru could be any worse than Azgeda was.

"You won't fit in there. They're very peaceful people..." she trailed off before turning her face to him. "You're not."

***

Bellamy spent the next two hours packing up his and Octavia's things. There wasn't much to pack, really, since they didn't have a lot. He tossed most of their clothes to the only bag they owned. It should have taken him much less time, but he spent nearly an hour just looking at their belongings and at their home they had to leave. He didn't necessarily expect it to be easy, but he didn't think it would be so hard either. He never had an easy life, so it's not like he had many happy memories from his childhood. But, after all, Troit was his home. It was there that he grew up, that he lived his whole life. It was there that he held his sister right after she was born.

He never expected to feel so nostalgic about that place.

He glanced at the books he tossed in the corner. He couldn't take all of them, so he decided to pack only _The Tales of Fire_. The rest of them didn't have much value anyway. The book wasn't big, so hid it in the pocket of his jacket, just to make sure he wouldn't lose it on the way.

Octavia came home right before it got dark outside. She didn't know about any of his plans or even about the fact that their mother's birth certificate was stolen, he hadn't told her yet. Bellamy wasn't sure how to start this conversation. His sister wouldn't like the idea of leaving their home just like that.

"We're leaving" he finally blurted when they were done eating dinner, Octavia washing dishes for once.

"What?" Octavia turned around and glanced at Bellamy like she didn't actually believe him. "What do you mean we're leaving?"

"They know" he whispered, looking her in the eyes and Octavia almost dropped the plate she was holding. "They found out..." he trailed off, not wanting to admit how they'd found out about them in the first place. He was too ashamed to tell her that this was all his fault. "Someone found that birth certificate and they're coming for us. We have to leave and we have to do it now."

Octavia opened her mouth and then closed it. She was looking for something to say, she probably had a lot of questions she wanted to ask, but all that came out of her was, "How?"

"I'll tell you everything I know later, I promise" he assured her. "Now we got to leave. I packed our things, we're ready to go-"

"So we're leaving?" she cut off before he could finish the sentence. "Just like that? Bellamy, Troit is our whole life!"

" _You_ are my whole life, O!" he snapped, raising his voice more than he intended to. "They're gonna hurt you, can't you see that?"

"Bell-"

He put his hands on her shoulders and lowered his head so that their eyes were on the same level, just like he used to do when she was much smaller. "Look, I don't care where we go as long as we're together, okay? I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you."

Octavia sighed and nodded slightly. "We don't have money to pay for the transport" she pointed.

"Don't worry, I took care of that."

"How?"

Bellamy backed off and took a deep breath. He knew his sister wouldn't be content with him going to Diana. Even though she didn't know the whole story - Bellamy always made sure she wouldn't find out what he really did for living - Octavia could feel something was wrong. She had that gift he didn't have, she could read every person like an open book and he didn't have to tell her anything for her to know that something was wrong.

Bellamy closed his eyes for a longer second. "I asked Diana for help."

Octavia was clearly worried. "What? Bell, you promised you'd never go to her again."

"I had no choice."

"What did you do?"

"I paid her" he lied. He hated lying to Octavia more than anything, but he wouldn't let her worry about him. And he certainly wasn't willing to admit to her that he wasn't so different from their mother. "It's all taken care of, she'll get us transit and it's gonna be fine." He smiled at her warmly. "You'll see a real sea on the way, O. You've always wanted to."

She returned the smile. "So we're gonna be fine?"

"Yeah" he said. "It's gonna be okay, I promise."

Octavia was difficult sometimes, she took her time to process things, but in the end of the day she was really mature and understanding. And Bellamy couldn't be more grateful to the universe for having her.

***

An hour later they were ready to leave. Octavia was frantically walking around the house as if to make sure she'd packed everything, even though there wasn't much left to take. She was scared, Bellamy could see that. Hell, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared himself.

Eventually, he grabbed her by her forearm to stop her. "We have to go, O. Diana's waiting."

She nodded slightly. "Right."

In silence they looked around their house, one more time before leaving. Bellamy spotted something in the corner of the living room - something he truly forgot they owned because they never used it. _A shiny sword_.

That sword was the only thing left by Octavia's father. Augustus Blake was a soldier in Azgeda's army. Bellamy was almost ten when he died from sepsis, Octavia was four, so she couldn't really remember him that well.

Since Bellamy wasn't his son, the man never really liked him. However, Augustus gave him his name and kept him in his house which he didn't have to do, so Bellamy was grateful. He knew that his sister's father was a good man and that he surely loved Octavia and Aurora.

Bellamy grabbed the sword and its scabbard lying next to it. He knew something about using it, Augustus had taught him how to wield a sword. He would always tell him that he needed to know how to protect his mother and his sister when he had to. Bellamy was a kid back then, but he did learn a thing or two. This and the later experience he got from working for Diana Sydney made him quite a good fighter.

He placed the sword in the scabbard and then fastened it to the belt of his pants. "You're taking a sword?" Octavia asked, sounding distressed.

"Just in case."

Octavia didn't say anything to that. In silence, Bellamy grabbed their bag and they walked out of their house, heading to the square. It was already dark outside, but a lot of people were still milling around the place, enjoying a relatively warm evening. When Bellamy and Octavia got to the square, they noticed it was still surprisingly crowded.

"Wait here" Bellamy told Octavia and handed her the bag. "I'll find Diana."

He edged his way through the crush, trying to find the woman he was looking for. It wasn't easy, considering the place was lit illuminated only by a few torches and the moonlight. Finally, after a good couple of minutes, he spotted her on the opposite side of the plaza. He was already halfway there when he heard some turmoil behind him and then a voice, a voice he thought he heard before. "That's him!" it said. "That's him, Charlotte, right? The one with curly hair. That's the guy you described."

Bellamy froze.

For a second, he considered running. But then he realized that all the eyes were on him, so he couldn't just disappear in the crowd. And with that amount of people standing on his way, he didn't stand a chance.

_They got him._

Bellamy tried to keep a level head. But all he could think about was that a chance for him and Octavia to run away was irrevocably gone. He could only pray that she wouldn't do anything stupid. He knew he would be caught within seconds, but she could still get away.

He desperately tried to find the sight of his sister in the crowd. It took him a second, maybe two. Octavia looked absolutely terrified and he wished he could hug her and tell her that everything would be okay, just like he did every time she cried. But he couldn't do it, so instead he just shook his head faintly to let her know that she shouldn't do anything to get to him.

It all happened quickly. One second he was looking at his sister and the other, the old guard blocked his view of her. "Is your name Bellemy?" he asked, mispronouncing his name. Bellamy didn't react to his question, but the man must have taken his silent response as a yes. "You will come with us. King's orders."

He felt as if he was in some sort of trance. It all just didn't feel real, not until he heard one of the four other guards say, "We gotta find his sister. I'm sure she's somewhere here." The soldier turned his head to Bellamy. "You mind telling us where she is? It would save us some time."

"She's not here" Bellamy heard himself saying something that was like an automatic response. He said it too fast, too firmly for those men to believe him.

"Yeah, right" the man responded, once again turning to his comrades. "Comb the square, she must be here."

Bellamy heard voices, people were whispering, parents were dragging their kids away from him and the soldiers. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Charlotte with his father, even in the darkness he could see the tears in her eyes.

And then he saw that one of the five guards moved right in Octavia's direction. They'd find her, it was just a matter of time. Even though they didn't look exactly alike - Octavia was almost a copy of their mother while Bellamy must have been similar to his father, whoever that was - they had some similarities. Besides, the guards could just simply ask someone from the crowd and Bellamy was damn sure none of these people would lie to protect them.

He had to do something, anything that would turn their focus from Octavia. That one soldier was dangerously close to her, so he had to act fast. There were two guards that stood beside him, making sure he wouldn't run away. Since he didn't offer resistance, they just stood there, without tying him or doing anything to cage him in. Bellamy didn't have to think twice before he grabbed the sword handle and swiftly pulled it out of the scabbard.

He heard sudden gaps and even some screams, but it took the soldiers one second too long to realize what was happening. Using their too slow reaction, he attacked one of them, slicing his leg. He didn’t want to kill them. Not yet, anyway.

The man screamed and the other guards struck back at him and Bellamy found himself in the middle of the fight, him against four trained men, since the one he attacked was out, at least for those few precious seconds.

And then he realized that he didn’t know what they really wanted to do with them. They could have as well got an order to kill them right there, but only wanted to do it in less public place. Since he assaulted them, the chances that him and Octavia would actually survive it were minimal. It was them or the soldiers, his and his sister’s lives or theirs. And it could be the only way, the only possibility to come out of this alive.

So in this one short second when he was out of most of the guards’ reach, he turned to the one that was near enough and stabbed him right in the stomach.

Bellamy had seen death. He’d seen Octavia’s father taking his last breath before he closed his eyes forever. He’d seen his mother, lying on the floor, choking in her own vomit, her body cold and still. He’d seen mothers giving birth to dead babies and then dying a few minutes after that. He’d seen corpses of the people that no one cared about enough to bury, decaying on the streets.

But he never was the one who’d be the cause of death.

People were screaming, but he couldn’t quite hear them. Children were crying, but he couldn’t really see them. All he could see was the blood draining from the guard’s stomach and the sword that was the reason of that. He took a little too long, contemplating about what he did, because when he turned his head, the rest of the men were right behind him. He only managed to pull his sword out and swing it, slitting a soldier’s throat.

Diana was right. He wasn’t peaceful at all.

The second kill didn’t come out to be such a shock for him, he didn’t spend so much time watching his victim falling on the ground. But that didn’t help him, because there were still three of them and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, somebody’s leg on his back and a sword on his throat.

“Don’t kill him” one of the three left guards ordered, he was the oldest of them all and probably the most important one. “The king wants them in one piece.”

„Right,” the younger soldier said, kneeling next to Bellamy. “Listen, buddy. You’re gonna tell us where your little sister is or I’m gonna cut your fingers off, one by one. Got it?”

Bellamy didn’t respond to that which cost him a kick on his face. He groaned with pain, spitting up blood.

He probably deserved it.

“I won’t tell you anything” he mumbled, getting another kick, this one stronger.

Because he still didn’t say anything, the man lowered his face to him and grabbed Bellamy’s hand, taking out the knife from his pocket. “I’ll count to three.”

Bellamy was almost sure he heard Octavia screaming his name somewhere in that crowd. But maybe those men couldn’t heard that in the noise the scared people made, or maybe he was just attentive to her voice. 

“One.”

_God, why was she still there?_

“Two.”

He felt like Octavia’s voice was growing louder, more desperate. They would catch her. It was just a matter of seconds.

“ _Three_.”

With that word, he could feel the guard pulling a knife to one of his fingers and he closed his eyes, getting ready to whatever was about to happen. But before anything could happen, he heard a voice, “Stop that madness. She’s not here.”

Diana Sydney was standing above him, distracting the soldier’s attention from him. “Get out of here, it’s not something a woman should be watching” the man said sharply.

“Then stop what you’re doing” she responded, her voice keeping a stoic timbre. “I’ve seen the one you’re looking for leaving the town today. You won’t find her here, so you can stop playing your little games with all these women and children around.”

Bellamy dared to raise his head as much as he was able to in his position and glanced up at her. He was shocked. He’d never expect her to do something like that. Getting him transport was one thing, but lying to the men from the royal army was another.

“Why would we believe you, ma’am?” the oldest one asked almost politely.

„I’m not a liar” she stated, putting a little smile on her face. “You can ask anyone you want, my reputation is quite established. In fact, you can ask my good friend, Sinclair. He’s the commander of the royal army, isn’t he?”

They exchanged glances, as if they tried to silently decide whether they should believe her or not.

“I’m just trying to save your time, gentlemen” she continued. “You can either go to Polis with the murderer or you can stay, trying to find someone who’s not here, risking that he’ll get away” she told them as she pointed at Bellamy. “The choice is yours.”

“Thank you, ma’am” the old guard said after a few seconds of intense thinking. “Emerson,” he called, probably referring to one of his comrades. “Tie him up. We’re heading to Polis.”

Bellamy couldn’t believe that Diana actually managed to convince them to leave Octavia. That woman caused him a lot of harm during the almost ten years he’d known her, but in that moment, he couldn’t be more grateful to her.

One of the men abruptly made him  
get up, with sword still dangerously close to his throat. He looked around, trying to find Octavia in the crowd. He needed to see her, just one last time.

He spotted her in the same place he’d left her. Their eyes crossed and he could see fear in hers. When his hands were being tied, she looked like she was about to come to him and turn herself in, making Bellamy want to scream at her. But before she could make a step, someone caught her by her arms. A tall, dark-skinned man with some sort of tattoo on his head was holding Octavia still. Bellamy didn’t know who that was and what he was doing there with his sister.

But soon, the same guy was dragging Octavia from the crowd and seconds later, Bellamy lost the sight of her.

He sank to his knees, only then did his failure start to hit him. He promised her he’d protect her. He failed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we’re getting closer to some blorke guys, just a little bit longer


	5. | foreign places

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that is a long ass chapter. i like it tho

**TRIKRU**

Octavia Blake opened her eyes slowly, blinded by the bright sunlight getting to her through tree crowns. It took her a moment to put her thoughts in order and realize that she had no idea where she was and why she was there.

She looked around to see that she was lying in some kind of carriage, buried in the warm furs. She noticed a big amount of some plants tossed on one of her sides, food and all kinds of soft goods on the other. She raised her head and realized that the carriage wasn't moving, one horse on the front was standing still, being fed by a man.

 _A man_.

First thing she saw was his bold head with a black tattoo on top of it that was coming down his neck and disappearing under his coat. He lifted his head then and she got to see his face. It was sharp and masculine, his skin - unlike her and anyone she's ever seen in Ice Nation - was golden brown, as if it was imitating the color of barks of trees that surrounded him. His chestnut eyes were deep and wild, yet warm the second he looked at her.

"You're up."

His voice was deep, and hoarse, and tender. It took Octavia a few seconds to remember that he definitely wasn't her friend, that he practically kidnapped her, took her away from her brother.

_Oh god, Bellamy._

"I had to give you some herbs to calm you down" he said, since she remained silent. "Sorry for that."

There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask him. Who was he? Where did he take her and why did he do it? How far was she from home? What happened to her brother? The questions just kept coming to her head, but instead of asking them out loud, she didn't say anything, getting up quickly and feeling her head rushing.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her calmly. He didn't seem to be concerned that she left without saying a word, like he didn't believe she could get far.

"To find my brother" she answered sharply. She heard his heavy footsteps behind her, meaning he wasn't willing to let her go just like that.

"Wait," he said as he grabbed her wrist to stop her. "You can't just go."

"I'm sorry, but who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" she wrenched her wrist from his grasp and kept walking, not even knowing where she was heading. "You're not..." she trailed off, turning around to face him and straightened herself to look as tall and strong as possible. It didn't do much though, since he was a lot taller than her. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Good, because I'm trying to help you"

"Help me?" she echoed. Who he was and _why the hell_ he wanted to help her was a mystery to her. But what she _did_ know was that he wasn’t helping at all. "Look, I don't know what you want from me, but if you really want to help, just get out of my way."

He stepped in front of her to block her way. "Wait, just let me explain-"

"I said get out of my way."

"Alright," this time he listened to her and stepped out of the way, but he kept up with her as she walked forward, refusing to look at him. "So Polis, huh? You know, you're going in the opposite direction."

Octavia turned around wordlessly and so did he. They walked in silence for a while, before he spoke again, "You don't even know where you are."

"You mind telling me?" she snorted. "You brought me here in the first place."

"Trikru."

 _Trikru_. She'd always wanted to see it. It was the only place in Arkadia with no lords or kings, but with a commander chosen in a conclave. They didn't have to be highborns to become the leaders, just fighters. Octavia always found that fascinating and much more sensible.

But in that moment, it was the last place she wanted to be in. It was far from home, far from Bellamy, and she had no one there who she knew, no one she could rely on. Except that man she didn't trust at all. "I don't need you to follow me" she said because that guy clearly didn't intend to leave her alone.

He chuckled. "You've got a real gratitude problem, you know that?"

She stopped walking and turned her head, finally looked at him. Did he really expect her to be _grateful_? "Gratitude? Why would I be grateful to you?"

He crossed his arms, looking down at her and suddenly she was sensible of how towering he was. "I saved your life."

She almost laughed. "You didn't. My brother did."

"And you were going to give yourself in and waste that."

"That's enough!" she barked, pushing him slightly. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do, considering he was much bigger and probably stronger than her, but Octavia was impulsive. And that man just didn't seem to understand that she didn't need his help. "You don't know that, you don't know me. You don't know what happened there and you-"

"I know what happened there" he interrupted her before she could even finish the sentence. All of sudden, his soft expression turned into an angry one. She had no idea where that change came from, but it had to be something she did or said that made him like that. Either way, it made her position even worse. "They took him and he's gone. There's no saving for him. I know how this goes."

She didn't ask him how he knew that, nor did she care. She walked past him, simmering. How could he look her in the face and lie like that? Because he _couldn't_ be right.

 _He couldn't_.

"Alright, you can go" he called, but this time he didn't follow her. "But your brother is probably dead by now and if you go back there, you'll be dead too."

Only after hearing his words did the reality hit her. Tears filled her eyes as she slowly stopped walking. She felt like she would crumble any moment, recalling the events of the previous night. Her brother, the most important person in her life, was gone and she was powerless to prevent it from happening.

The guy behind her must have realized that his words were a little rough, because she could hear his footsteps behind her. She turned to him to see that his expression softened. "Hey, I'm sorry" he said quietly. In that moment she thought that maybe, _maybe_ he was a good guy and he really wanted to help her. "Look, you can stay here, in Trikru, I could help you. I'm sure your brother would want that."

She nodded slightly. What did she have to lose, anyway? For all she knew, that guy was her best chance to stay alive. "What's your name?" she asked, realizing that she didn't even know that about him.

"Lincoln" he answered. She was pretty sure she'd heard that name before. Perhaps she read it in a book.

"Lincoln. I'm Octavia."

***

**PODAKRU**

Clarke Griffin arrived to Podakru accompanied by Marcus Kane and a dozen of lord Collins' soldiers ten days after the Unity Day.

Perhaps not everyone of the Lake People knew about her alliance with their leader, because not everyone welcomed her with open arms. Maybe she didn't get thrown at with trash, but she did hear people talking about her with pure disapproval on their faces, some of them even booing at her. No one smiled at her as she entered the capital city, people weren't celebrating the way she thought they would. Welcoming a royal family in their clan _should_ be a hell of a celebration. And she _was_ their queen, the only rightful one.

"What's wrong?" she asked Kane as they rode through the crowd full of people. Almost all of them looked like they wished they could throw her off her horse, or at least throw something at her.

"Podakru don't love the Griffins" Kane responded. "Your family ended their bloody traditions when they conquered these lands and imposed the leadership of the Collinses. People were mad."

"Well, that's good to know" she huffed, looking around the crowd. "Am I dealing with fanatics?"

"Traditionalists" he corrected her. "Don't worry about it. They'll eventually come around."

"Traditionalists?" she echoed. She didn't necessarily like to deal with people that were blinded by their religion or traditions, it was often impossible to change their mindset. "Tell me about them."

Kane thought his answer over for a few seconds. "They worship water and fire. Water brings life, fire brings death. They believe life is a gift and death gives it a reason" he explained as he turned his head to her. "They used to fight for life and death as a form of sacrifice and your family ended that. They think you're here against the gods' will."

She looked around, eyeing the people that surrounded her. If what Kane said was true, then it would be hard for her to make them love her, or at least show some respect. But Clarke Griffin wasn't the one to give up easily. "Their beliefs won't stop me."

Kane smiled at her gently. "I know you're confident, but you won't take their faith away from them. That's exactly why they hate your family."

"I won't take their gods away" she said as she turned her head to look forward at the castle spreading in front of her. If she was able to convince Dante, his people wouldn’t be a problem. "I'll become one."

Kane's mouth curved into an even wider smile at her words. He looked proud, almost like a proud father.

They finally got to the castle where Lord Collins would greet her and where she would see her fiancé for the first time. She wasn't really nervous about that meeting. Marrying Finn Collins was just another thing she had to do to sit on the throne. And she was ready to do everything to achieve that.

When she got off her horse, some people - who she assumed were servants - welcomed her with a little more enthusiasm than all the other people of Podakru. In silence they led her on the way to the building, where they passed a lot of guards, servants and maidens, most of them didn't look pleased. "That's the Griffin princess" she heard someone say. "She shouldn't be here" someone else whispered, but all of these comments and unpleasant glances, they didn't make her lose any confidence. Those people clearly had no love for her. She had to earn it then. She would.

She walked through the large door, entering the big hall. There wasn't an actual throne in there, because Lord Collins was no king to sit on one. But there was a row of chairs where the Collinses sat while seeing their visitors and a long, wooden table in front of them. Clarke already noticed that they obviously loved extravagant ornaments, because all she could see inside the castle were gemstones, gold and pricey wood. It was almost... Crushing.

She saw Dante sitting on the chair in the middle. Another man was sitting on his right side, this one much younger than the lord. Clarke saw some similarities in their faces though, so she assumed it was his son. _Her soon-to-be husband_.

That man didn't look friendly or kind. His white skin and stark appearance reminded her of the people she'd seen in Ice Nation, but he wasn't _beautiful_ like almost everyone in Azgeda was, he looked rather repellently.

"Clarke Griffin" Dante called without bothering to stand up. He _should have_ stood up. He should have referred to her _your grace_ , she was a queen, after all. It seemed that not only his people didn't treat her with enough respect, but neither did the lord himself.

Kane was the first one to greet him. He approached him and shook his hand with a smile on his face. Then he shook the younger Collins' hand too, being less friendly with this one. "My lord" Clarke said, forcing a smile. She didn't make any move towards them.

"It's a pleasure to have you here" Dante assured, but she didn't really believe him. "Let me introduce. This is my first born son," he pointed at the man sitting beside him. "Cage."

"Oh," So that wasn't the man she was about to marry. She was glad. "I was supposed to meet my fiancé" she pointed out.

"Right" he said. "Finn will come here soon."

It took all her willpower not to say anything. She'd come a long way to get there and so far he didn't even offer her a seat. And now she still had to wait for his son to come. She knew that Dante was just paying her back for the way she made him wait for her on the Unity Day, but it didn't make her any less impatient.

"Clarke Griffin" Dante's son - Cage - filled the silence as he got up from his chair and approached her. He took one of her hands in his own and brought it to his lips, greeting her. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"It's _your grace_ for you" she replied, taking her hand away from him. "When you greet your queen, you should kneel," she stopped for a second before adding, "My lord."

"You're not even a queen, not yet" he didn't break the eye contact with her when he smirked viciously. "Your only army is my army. You're only here because you're marrying my brother. You have nothing and you expect me to kneel?"

He was much taller than her, much bigger, but he didn't intimidate her. No, she could deal with men like him, men who openly disrespected her.

"I don't _expect_ you to kneel" she said, putting a little smile on her face as well. "I _demand_ it."

"Clarke" Kane interjected, sensing the tension. He was always the one to hold her back when her temper took over her. He always smoothed things over when they were about to snap.

She was going to say something in response, done with the way she was treated. The moment she opened her mouth, someone entered the room. She turned her head to see a guy in rich clothes. He was similar to Cage, but looked much younger and much more boyish. His face was softer, eyes warmer.

_Finn Collins._

"Finn," Dante addressed his younger son. "We have a visitor."

Finn didn't seem to notice her at first. He looked at her with a little confusion, probably not aware of who she was. Since Dante wasn't willing to introduce her, she decided to do it herself.

"I am Clarke Griffin of the old Fayagedakru, the daughter of Jake Griffin" she made her introduction very official, considering it was her fiancé standing in front of her. But then again, their marriage was an alliance, nothing more. It was _supposed_ to be official. Clarke took a deep breath and made sure her words sounded firmly when she added, "The rightful queen of Arkadia."

"Oh" Finn sighed, but seconds later he cleared his throat, as if he wanted to sound more confident, more _royal_. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

 _Right_ , Clarke thought. His words felt rehearsed, they probably were, because he said the exact same thing as his brother.

She had a feeling this was going to be tougher than she expected.

***

The day after Clarke's arrival, they had a feast together. Her, Kane and the Collinses. Turned out that Cage already had a wife, which was the only reason why Clarke wasn't about to marry him instead of Finn, since he was the first born son.

"So," Finn was sitting next to her, desperately trying to make a conversation. They sat in silence almost the entire time and while she didn't care about it at all, he seemed to be uncomfortable with it. "How do you like it here?"

"Fine" she said, not sure what he meant by _here_. Was he talking about the castle? Or Podakru in general? Either way, she didn't _like_ it there, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

Finn's attention went back to his plate, for he didn't have anything else to say.

"Tell me, _Clarke_ ," Cage turned his attention to her, obviously refusing to address her the way he should. "since my father trusted you so blindly. What are your plans?"

"My plans?" she echoed. She took a few seconds to craft her words, well aware that this was another opportunity for Dante and Cage to defy her. She wasn't going to give them this satisfaction. "You know I'm marrying your brother. Then I'll seek for support from Shallow Valley and Trikru. It shouldn't be a problem, they're known for supporting my family."

"What about Azgeda?" Finn interjected. "I heard they've got the greatest army of all clans."

"They don't get invested in foreign wars" Kane said. His expression changed slightly and Clarke assumed it was for the mention of Ice Nation. Kane told her once that he'd been there for a longer time and he hated that place. "As long as the war doesn't concern them, they don't pick sides."

"Azgeda are savages" Cage added. "Podakru wouldn't be fighting alongside them anyway."

The conversation ended there and they came back to eating when servants brought them another meal. The feast was so lavish Clarke wasn't even sure if the royal family itself got to eat like that. The Collinses clearly loved the splendor.

Cage took the last bit of his food before returning to the topic. "So, coming back to your plans. I think we'd all like to know them, since we're risking everything with this alliance."

Obviously, he was just trying to find something to mock her. Clarke cleared her throat. "Russell Lightbourne is dying" she stated, ignoring his comment. "It's the best to attack Polis right after his death. Use the chaos."

"This isn't a plan" Cage said. "It's an idea. Weak one."

"Well, what do you want to know?" she asked, trying very hard not to sound annoyed. Kane cleared his throat as a sign for her not to let her temper take over her.

"Your other allies, for starters. Commander Lexa is busy with her conflict with Azgeda, and whether Shallow Valley will follow you or not, it's a lottery. You can't just depend on two clans you're taking for granted."

"I'm not a fool." She wasn't annoyed anymore. She was angry.

"I never said you were."

"Come on, Cage" Finn said, trying to break the tension. Clarke already managed to notice that he was quite easy-going and casual, a little _too_ casual to be a future king. She'd have to discipline him. "He meant to ask you about your further plans" he turned to her. "If anything goes wrong."

"I know what he meant" she cut, feeling her blood boil. This wasn't how she imagined this would go. "You want to know my plans, Cage?" she looked at the older brother who was staring at her with a little smirk on his face, his arm wrapped around his wife's back. The woman said only a few words during the evening. Clarke assumed this was how she was raised to be. A good, beautiful wife on her husband's side. An addition to a man.

Clarke would never let any man degrade her like that.

"That's what I asked" Cage raised his brow.

"I will sit on the throne" she said firmly. "And I will rule."

"Once again, this is not a plan."

"You see," Clarke took a sip of her wine between her words, "plans change. All the time. My father had a plan to get back the throne twenty five years ago and as you can see, it didn't work. You can't quite _plan_ how to overthrow the ruler. You gain allies, watch how things go and when the right time comes, you attack."

"You're confident about it" Dante spoke for the first time since they started that pointless conversation. Unlike Cage, he didn't seem to be completely about what she said, he looked quite impressed, even.

"A little too confident, considering that I don't see a crown on your head" those words from Cage were the last straw. She could accept a lot, but enough was enough.

"Alright" she stood up, feeling her head spinning a little. She'd drunk a few glasses of wine already and that might have caused her to overreact. "You want to know what i'm going to do? I'm going to take back what's mine, no matter how much it costs. I'll spill the blood if it's needed. I'll burn down castles and destroy cities if I have to. But I will take back what's mine."

She leaned over to Cage who was now watching her carefully, she couldn't tell whether he was fascinated or shocked.

"I'm the last of the Griffins" she continued, her voice strong. "I'm the queen. _Your_ queen. And I will take out all of my enemies, one by one, that's what queens do. You should treat me with respect, or otherwise I might think you're my enemy too."

After saying those words, she left the room. She could hear Dante calling, "You didn't lie when you said she was fierce." He was most likely talking to Kane.

She walked to the balcony, feeling a need of fresh air. It didn't take much time for Marcus to appear next to her. "You shouldn't have said that" he said calmly.

"What was I supposed to do?" she replied sharply, turning away from him. "He kept insulting me and you didn't say anything to stop him."

"Cage is tough, but he's your ally and the future lord of the Lake Clan" Kane noted. "You have to keep him decent relations with him."

"They don't respect me."

"Cage doesn't. But Dante seemed to enjoy your little speech. And from what I've seen, your fiancé treats you just fine."

"What are you trying to say, Kane?" she felt like she was about to snap _again_. Out of all people, she expected at least him to understand her, to be on her side. "That I should just stay quiet and let him offend me? That's not who I am and you know that."

"No" he made a few steps towards her. "I'm saying that respect must be earned, Clarke. Even if you're a queen. I've known Dante for years and I know that he takes his time with people. Prove him you deserve respect and you'll get it."

"No, Kane" she said, surprised by how calm her voice was. "I don't need to prove myself to a man." She turned her head towards him. "And you will refer to me as your queen. Not _Clarke. Your grace_."

She walked away leaving him in quite a shock.

***

**SHALLOW VALLEY**

They'd been walking for almost a day. Most specifically, Bellamy was walking with his hands tied, while the three men in front of him were riding on their horses. He was sure they weren't in a rush and _could_ go slower, but they didn't. Instead, they took a fast pace so there were moments he had to run, otherwise he would fall and they would just drag him, because there was no way they would stop for him to stand up. Fair enough. After all, he killed those guards. He probably deserved it.

But the thing is, he didn't really regret it. It was wrong, he knew that. And he felt bad with himself, well aware that their blood was still on his hands. But what he did prevented them from finding Octavia, so he didn't regret it.

Bellamy started to realize how horrible his situation was. He had no idea where his sister was. Who was it that brought her from the square? That guy didn't have an armor or anything indicating that he was one of the Lightbournes's men. Bellamy could only hope that Octavia was safe, but he didn't really believe that.

He didn't know where he was either. He overheard the guards talking about crossing the border with Shallow Valley a few hours ago. He wouldn't recognize that himself, he never left Azgeda, so he had no idea how the other clans looked like.

It was beginning to get dark. The air got cooler as the hours went by, but it's not like he couldn't handle it. He was used to much bigger cold in Ice Nation, a little freeze of much warmer Shallow Valley wouldn't cause him any harm.

The horses were getting slower, being tired of the torturous walk. Bellamy was pretty sure they were coming to a stop. _Good_. He was thirsty and hungry as hell. Not that those men would care enough to feed him.

"Where are we gonna stay for the night?" one of them asked.

"There's a tavern nearby" the other suggested. "We could go there and get some whores. I think we deserved it."

"Oh yeah" the first one said with blissfulness in his voice. "All I need now is a slut with big tits. Something my wife doesn't have."

Bellamy listened to their conversation with pure disgust. _So these are the great soldiers of the royal army_.

"No whores today" the third guard, the one in the front called. He was obviously the oldest, the most important of them all, from what Bellamy saw, he was the one to make all of decisions. "We gotta keep an eye on the savage boy."

"Oh, come on. Let me just take one for a quick fuck. It won't take long."

 _What a loser_ , Bellamy thought, stopping himself from saying it out loud. Not that he was in the position to say anything. After all, he was the one being dragged around like a bag of trash.

"No," the front guard didn't seem to be changing his mind, even after the _oh so promising_ offer to visit the local tavern. "King's orders" he replied sharply, causing his comates to grunt. They were clearly unhappy, but they didn't dare to question his decision.

They kept going and about twenty minutes later they stopped, the men getting off their horses. Then they tethered the animals to something - probably a tree, but Bellamy couldn't see properly in the darkness. He didn't know where they were or why they stopped there. There was nothing to be seen around.

"Hey, you!" one of the guards turned his head to him, taking the chain Bellamy was tied with to his hands. "We're gonna stop for the night."

After a moment he realized they weren't exactly in the middle of nowhere. There was a mansion about fifty yards away. The soldiers made towards it and Bellamy followed, dragged on the chain by one of them. They knocked on the door and had to wait a while before someone opened. A young woman looked at them with confusion. "Who are you?"

"King's army" the oldest guard explained, making her even more taken aback. "We require a sojourn."

"What?" she asked. Bellamy wasn't surprised she didn't know what was going on, after all, these guys just came to her home and required her to let them stay. Then she noticed him standing in the back and her eyes widened. Again, he wasn't surprised, he was aware of how he must have looked. He was bruised and dirty, the dark streams of blood congealed on his face hours ago. He hadn't seen himself in the mirror, but he was more than sure he looked like death. "Who's that?" she pointed at Bellamy with uncertainty. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Gina?" a voice sounded from the house and after a few seconds a middle-aged man appeared next to her. "What's going on?"

"King's army" the old guard repeated, clearly irritated. "Let us in."

"Why is that?" the man standing in the door asked, Bellamy couldn't help but notice that he looked a little nervous to have them there.

"Due to law, you're obligated to take the army men in whenever it's needed." The respond sounded rehearsed, almost filled with boredom. The soldier must have been used to saying those words and dealing with people who didn't want to let him in. Bellamy wondered if it really was a law or he was just making it up. "Come on, man. We wouldn't want the king to know you made us disobey his orders, would we? It could be considered a treason."

The man shivered slightly at the obvious threat. He took a quick glance at the woman standing next to him before he sighed and opened the door wider for them to come in. He must have missed the sight of Bellamy earlier, because the moment he was dragged through the door, the guy froze for a second. "Who is that?"

„A prisoner" one of the guards answered as he shoved his way through the hall, dragging Bellamy with him. The force of the tug made him trip over and fall on his knees. The young woman scoped him out with concern, but before she could do anything to help him, the soldier sent her a sharp, warning look. "No need to be so troubled, ma'am. You're looking at the murderer."

"Murderer?" she echoed, now looking at him with not so much of concern, but with fear.

"What's your name, sir?" the oldest soldier asked, completely ignoring the mix of confusion and dread on their hosts' faces.

"Martin" the man mumbled in response. "Gregory Martin."

"Martin. I know this name. Do you serve in the royal army?"

"My father did. I fight for Shallow Valley."

The guard nodded and walked past him, looking around the mansion. "Emerson, go to the town and send the message to Polis," he turned to his comrade. "Write that we got one of them and we're staying for the night at the Martins" here he sent a very forced smile to the man - _Gregory_ \- before nodding at Emerson as a sign that he was allowed to go. Emerson silently left.

"You're staying the night?" Gregory snapped out of shock. "With the murderer under my roof?"

Bellamy didn't like the fact that his name was so quickly replaced with the word _murderer_ , but it's not like he could say something that would change it. He killed people. Of course he would be labeled as a murderer.

"Oh come on, Gregory" the guard that held Bellamy on chain clapped mister Martin's arm which could be considered a friendly gesture if it wasn't for thee threats they made to him only a few minutes beforehand. "You're a military man. You've dealt with worse people."

"My wife and my daughter are here" he replied sharply. Bellamy took a glance at the woman who he assumed was Gregory's daughter. She was too confused by the situation she was in to say anything.

"Oh, I think she can handle it" the guard said, sending a _disgusting_ smile to the woman. "Don't you, sweetheart?"

"You couldn't get yourself a prostitute so now you're hitting on the first girl you see? A little pathetic, don't you think?"

All eyes turned to Bellamy as he spoke for the first time since they got there. He could already see the vein pulsing on the soldier's forehead, his eyes getting filled with anger. But Bellamy had nothing to lose, so he didn't care to keep his mouth shut about them anymore.

It didn't last long before he felt a slap on his cheek, pain quickly spread all over his face. He heard the woman gasp at the sudden act of violence. She probably wasn't used to seeing things like that.

"This is enough!" Gregory raised his voice. "You, tell your friend to behave" he addressed the older guard. "And he," here he pointed at Bellamy, "He stays tied and you won't let him out of your sight."

The old man just nodded in response and silently headed to the inside of the mansion. Gregory and his daughter followed him and so did the guard dragging Bellamy with him. They entered the huge living room and Bellamy thought that it was the most beautiful house he'd ever seen. Not even Diana Sydney had a place so big and so wealthy-looking. He noticed that the design was far different from what he'd seen in Troit, less stark and more extravagant. He supposed that the architecture might have been different in every clan.

He saw a woman standing in the middle of the room, looking frankly shocked. She was very similar to the one that opened the door for her, she must have been her mother, thus missus Martin.

"We've got visitors. King's army" her husband spoke. Bellamy was almost sure they exchanged a worried look. "With a _prisoner_. They want to stay over for the night."

"Alright" even if the woman was surprised or worried, she hid it well behind the warm smile. "We were just about to have dinner. Would you join us?"

"With pleasure, ma'am."

They moved to the dining room and sat at the table, of course without Bellamy who was made staying in the corner, his chain tied to the guard's belt. They stayed in the awkward silence, the Martins exchanging quick glances as they waited for the servants to bring them the meal. When the food was on the table, Bellamy could so much as smell it, not allowed to eat with them.

"He looks hungry" the young woman pointed at him, breaking the heavy silence. He must have been staring at their meal without even realizing it. "Maybe we should give him something to eat."

"Oh, he'll be fine" the guard assured with his mouth full, just another form of sweet torture that made him visibly satisfied with himself.

"He has to eat if you don't want him to die on your way to Polis" she said as she took her plate and put a peace of meat and some vegetables on it. In spite of her parents' vivid protests she approached Bellamy and carefully reached her hand to him. "Come on, you can take it."

Bellamy glanced at the guards, one of them already standing up to protect the woman from possible attack. He was a criminal now, so _of course_ , he could attack her all of sudden. The old soldier just nodded at him, allowing him to eat. He slowly took a plate from her hands and started to eat as quickly as his tied hands allowed him. "Thanks" he muttered after taking a bite. She sent him a warm smile, he noticed there wasn't so much fear in her eyes anymore.

"Gina, come back to the table" her father spoke. _Gina_. Bellamy realized that it must have been her name. It sounded a little bit strange to him, he'd never heard it before.

Soon, Emerson came back and they all finished their meal. Never in his life had Bellamy eaten so good, even the finest dishes he'd ever made didn't compare to the one he ate as a prisoner.

Having eaten the dinner, they moved to the living room. It was so warm there Bellamy almost forgot he was on the way to Polis where he would be most likely executed. He wondered if it was a normal thing to do for the royal army, to stay in ordinary people's houses with prisoners. He supposed that maybe, _maybe_ it was even forbidden and those men only did it because they were more comfortable staying in the big mansion than setting up camp on their own. But how could he know? He didn't know the actual law, just the most basic rules.

"It's a beautiful house you have, mister Martin" the old guard commented, walking slowly around the ornately decorated room. He watched carefully every painting, the pottery and all kind of decorations there were.

"It's been in my family for generations" Gregory answered shortly, his eyes didn't leave the soldier for a second.

"The Martins..." the old man trailed off, as if he was reflecting upon something. "Your father was the commander of the royal army. He left after Xavier Lightbourne conquered Arkadia." Gregory's eyes widened a bit at those words. "I told you I knew your name."

Mister Martin cleared his throat before saying, "My father didn't agree with the brutality of that conquer."

"He was a big Griffin supporter" the guard continued, and Bellamy was almost sure he noticed a shadow of dismay in their host's eyes. "Where are you standing, mister Martin?"

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you heard the news? Clarke Griffin formed an alliance with Dante Collins, she's in Podakru now. A surprise, isn't it?"

 _Clarke Griffin._ So that must have been the survivor of the Griffin family Atom told Octavia about. It would normally be much more exciting to him, considering his love of history. Clarke Griffin was the descendant of the people he read books about, the last one of the great dynasty. But Bellamy was too exhausted to have any strong feelings about that revelation.

"I wouldn't call it a surprise" Gregory answered slowly, as if he was picking his words carefully. "People've been talking about her for months."

The man finally sat down on one of the armchairs. "Right. I suppose you're happy about it, aren't you?"

Mister Martin seemed to contemplate his respond for a few seconds. "Soldiers don't take sides, they fight for their land. As far as I'm concerned, Shallow Valley doesn't fight for Clarke Griffin" he finally said. His answer was accepted with a simple nod of the head and that's how the conversation ended. Even though, the tension was apparent in the air, as they were sitting in silence interrupted only by Bellamy's heavy breathing.

"I need to clean his wounds" Gina said all of sudden, pointing at him. "He can get sepsis." He really hoped he wouldn't, not after he saw that disease slowly killing Octavia's father. The only thing he could wish for at that moment was a good, quick death.

Emerson shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary."

"Do _you_ want to get sepsis?" she raised her brow at them, already getting up to, as Bellamy supposed, grab something she could clean his wounds with. "If he gets it, he can infect you. And then none of you will get to Polis."

A visible concern appeared on all three of their faces. "So it's contagious?"

Bellamy was pretty sure it wasn't. Him and his mother were taking care of Augustus when he was sick and neither of them got infected. "It can be" she said instead.

The three of them looked around each other and their leader finally decided, "Okay. Emerson, watch him."

Gina walked towards the other end of the room where Bellamy was sitting and started examining his wounds in silence. "You're a nightblood. Is that why they got you?" she asked, keeping her voice low so that only he could hear her.

"Nightblood?" he rasped, not sure what she meant. He had no idea what a _nightblood_ was, but he was pretty sure he’d heard it before. 

"Your blood is black" she said in response. "You're special."

His blood was, in fact, black, but he never thought it was something special. His mother once told him that it was normal for some people and that it didn't mean anything. But maybe she didn't tell him the truth after all. Turned out she kept a lot of things from him.

He still didn't know _how_ that made him special, but he didn't have energy to dwell on that. It's not like it mattered anymore.

Gina began cleaning his wounds with a wet towel and he let her. She'd been good to him since the moment he got there, so she wasn't bound to hurt him. He had a feeling that under different circumstances, he would be able to like her, trust her, even. She looked like she was a good person.

"I'm not a monster you think I am" he blurted. He just needed to say it, he needed someone to understand him and of all people he could talk to, she seemed to be the best option. "They wanted to take my sister" he whispered as quietly as it was possible, so that no one but her would hear him. "I had to stop them."

Gina studied his face for a second and he started to regret saying anything. She finally nodded at him slightly and wordlessly came back to her work.

Minutes past by and she looked like she was debating on whether to say something or not. "Are they looking for something here?" she finally asked so quietly he wasn't sure if he heard that. Because he didn't respond, she continued, "Why are they here? They shouldn't come here, not with you."

"What's taking you so long?" the old soldier called from the other side of the room, clearly impatient.

Gina turned her head to him. "Just give me a moment" she answered with a bit of annoyance in her voice, which she tried to cover with unnatural sweetness. She turned her attention to Bellamy again, silently bandaging his arm.

"They just stopped here for the night" Bellamy whispered in response to her previous question. He tried to guess what she was so worried about, but that family looked like anything but trouble. "Why are you worried?"

She looked like she wasn't sure whether she should answer to his question or not. "Because they always find something they can arrest you for" she eventually said. "You of all people should know that. They want something and they will find something."

Right. He, of all people, knew that. But unlike them, he _was_ that something they wanted to find.

"I could take them out."

Bellamy wasn't sure why he said that. Perhaps he thought that, maybe, she would go for it. He really didn't want to kill any more people and the thought of another fight thrilled him, but it suddenly seemed to be the only chance he had. He could try to kill the rest of those men and run away to try to find Octavia, or he could go with them to Polis where he would most likely be beheaded. The choice came across as simple.

Gina's eyes widened at his words. Of course. How stupid was he to even say it? He just proved to be a murderer he had just claimed he wasn't. "You're crazy" she mumbled and then they returned to silence.

Since Gina didn't say another word to him and he didn't dare to say anything either, he could hear that the Martins made some small talk with the soldiers sitting with them. Emerson, on the other hand, impatient with monitoring him, started walking around the room. He began to eye all the things lying around, just like his older comrade did before. But Emerson wasn't just _watching_ them, he was touching nearly everything that was within reach. He obviously had worse manners than his leader.

Bellamy saw that the man grabbed a peace of paper from one of the shelves and stared at it, probably reading whatever was written on it. When mister Martin noticed what he was doing, he quickly got up from the armchair he was sitting on and walked to Emerson, reaching for the paper. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" he almost screamed, but Emerson didn't seem to care.

"Anders," he said, referring to the old soldier. So _Anders_ was his name. "Look who wrote that letter."

 _Anders_ grabbed the paper, ignoring Gregory's protests. He read the letter, keeping a stoic face until the very end. When he finished, he raised his brows and looked up at the man in front of him, whose face had gone completely white from the mix of stress and fear. "It's a letter signed by Clarke Griffin herself" Anders finally said. "Looks like you're good friends."

Bellamy, despite his tiredness, was taken aback. Did they really know _the_ Clarke Griffin?

He glanced at Gina. Her face was twisted with fear, just like her parents'. He realized why she was so worried earlier. If only supporting the Griffins was considered a treason... Then knowing them would probably be sentenced by death right away.

"Do you realize, mister Martin, that it's a treason?"

"Gina, Roesia, go upstairs" Gregory ordered his daughter and wife, taking a step back. He looked genuinely scared and Bellamy realized that _he_ was never a problem. It was the king's people that he feared.

Anders shook his head. "No" he said. "If this," he pointed at the letter that was still in his hand, "is legit, then all three of you committed a treason. And you know what's the penalty for that."

Mister Martin cleared his throat. "Don't you have a prisoner to escort?" he asked with a firm voice, but it was obvious that his head was working feverishly, trying to find a solution to the situation he got in.

All of sudden, Bellamy felt that Gina slided something in his hand. It took him a moment to realize what it was. _A knife_. He crossed his eyes with her and she nodded slightly at him.

 _She wanted him to take them down_.

"The less enemies of the king there are, the better it is for the realm" Anders stated calmly, as if he wasn't discussing the literal execution he was or wasn't about to conduct.

Bellamy accessed his situation. Two of the guards were talking to the Martins, not caring about him at all. Only one of them - the one who's name he didn't know - was glaring at both him. He couldn't see a small knife that appeared in Bellamy's hands though, because his view was blocked by Gina.

She walked away from him then, leaving him on full view to everyone, so he quickly slid the knife into the sleeve of his coat. It was small, so - hopefully - it wasn't that visible.

"Don't worry, Gregory" Anders smiled viciously. "As long as you cooperate, you'll end up on trial. I'd recommend not to object-"

In that exact moment, his sentence was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. Gina, who silently changed her position, was standing over Anders, with a bottle she broke right on the back of his head. He collapsed under the force of the hit and that's how the chaos started.

Emerson rushed to take out his sword and at the same time, mister Martin grabbed some pricket candlestick from one of the many shelves. Emerson swung his sword at missus Martin, but it was swiftly blocked by Gregory. The two of them started to fight right away and Bellamy was surprised by how great someone could fight with a candlestick instead of a real weapon. Perhaps it was something the military men were taught to do.

Instead of helping his friend, the third guard rushed to Bellamy to make sure he wouldn't do anything harmful to them. Those men might have been a little naive, thinking that no one and nothing would stand on their way, but they weren't _stupid_. They had a prisoner to escort and they had to make sure they would fulfill their mission, no matter the losses.

The combat between Gregory and Emerson was chaotic, nothing like he would imagine the real soldiers fighting. They knocked almost half of the ornaments over from the tables and shelves, glass and porcelain was breaking around them, making a noise even the dead would hear. Gina and her mother backed out a little, making room for the two men fighting. The men above Bellamy's shoulder was breathing heavily, observing the ongoing situation while keeping his sword firmly on Bellamy's neck. "Stop fighting, right now!" he screamed, but no one seemed to listen. Gregory Martin was clearly not going down without a fight.

Meanwhile, Anders started slowly picking himself up from the ground. When he noticed what was happening, he didn't look happy. No, he looked absolutely _furious_. The situation got clearly out of hand and for some reason, he was angry that the fight started in the first place. "Emerson, put the fucking sword down" he ordered. "We don't start the fighting."

Maybe he did have some rules, after all.

Emerson hesitated at those words and that was his mistake. When his chest wasn’t shielded, Gregory swiftly stabbed him with the pricket, right in the heart.

Everyone, even Anders gasped at that. None of them expected Gregory to do more than just protecting himself. But appearances can be deceiving.

“Emerson!” the guard that was holding Bellamy still ran to his already dead friend, unwittingly pulling on the chain and causing Bellamy to make a few steps closer. At the same time, Gregory used the element of surprise and threw the bloodstained candlestick at Anders and before the latter could do anything to defend himself, it landed right in his skull.

And another one was fallen.

It all happened so quickly Bellamy may have missed almost half the details. One second they were all sitting in the warm living room, sipping the tea, and the other two of them were lying dead on the floor, their blood spilling on the costly carpets.

The third soldier, the last one standing, turned out to be much smarter and faster than the other two. He didn’t wait before he threw himself, not on Gregory, but on Gina. His sword landed close to her neck, so close it caused a small stream of blood trickle down on her skin. “One move and I’ll fucking kill her!” he screamed, his face red from rage and his eyes filled with pure _madness_.

He quickly realized that he had the edge, because both mister and missus Martin raised their hands and didn’t make any step. “You will now prepare my horse to go and then I’ll think whether I’ll let her live or not” he declared. He turned his full attention to Gina then. “Maybe I’ll take you with me, hm? I think I deserved a whore tonight.”

“Don’t you dare-“ mister Martin started, but he stopped talking before he could even finish the sentence when he saw that the soldier pressed the sword harder to his daughter’s throat.

“You,” the unnamed man turned his head to Bellamy, “come over here” he said as he motioned Bellamy to approach him. “Don’t think I forgot about you.”

Bellamy felt like he’d just woken up. He started to believe that he might actually manage to get away. There was only that one guard left. Without him, he would be free to go. If only there was a way to take him out...

There was one, but he had to do it himself.

He walked slowly towards the guy, gripping tightly on the knife in his hand. He was thankful that his coat was too big for him and the sleeves were long enough to hide the weapon.

Just a few steps closer and the man would be within reach. He could just swing his hands then and it would be done, he’d be free to go. Just three more seconds and it all would be over...

_One._

“What’s taking you so long?” the guard barked at him.

 _Two_.

Bellamy tried to estimate the best place he should position himself at. Gina was standing on his way, so he had to walk over to stab him in the back.

A disgusting, unchivalrous decision, indeed. But he’d already sunken low. 

_Three_.

It happened within seconds. He made a final step and swung his hands, which wasn’t so easy since they were still tied. The knife landed in the man’s back, making his whole body stiffen. Bellamy closed his eyes and pushed the knife further with disgust on his face. He really did not enjoy the feeling of killing a person.

The man dropped his sword and his grip on Gina’s body loosened, so she quickly got away. He turned around to look at Bellamy with pure hatred in his eyes before collapsing on the ground. Fair enough.

Gina’s parents ran to her the second she got away from the guard’s grip. They hugged her, truly relieved that nothing serious happened to her, while Bellamy was standing there, over three corpses lying on the cold floor.

“You gotta burn the bodies” he finally said and they turned their attention to him, recalling that they weren’t alone. Gregory nodded and so did his wife, both still in shock after the events of the night.

“What are you gonna do?” Gina finally asked, making a step towards him.

“I don’t know” he admitted, placing a palm on his forehead. He probably should leave and go back to Azgeda to look for Octavia, but he was _so tired_ , it probably wasn’t the best idea. He felt like he would collapse any moment and that wouldn’t help him finding her.

_If there was still someone to be found._

“You can stay for the night” Gina proposed and it wouldn’t feel so weird if it wasn’t for the circumstances. She turned around to look at her parents, who exchanged hesitant glances, but she seemed to have made the decision herself. “You saved my life. Let us help you.”

He twisted his face, because he really _didn’t_ save her, but it wasn’t in his best interest to tell her that.

“Okay” he said instead.

Gina’s parents finally nodded at each other and then at him. Missus Martin even forced a weak smile.

There was just one thing he’d realized could become a problem. He, a Lightbourne by his mother’s blood, was in the house of friends of princess Clarke Griffin herself. And she was probably the only person who could want his death more than Russell Lightbourne did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bellarke enemies to lovers lezzz go


	6. | those who bring fire

**SHALLOW VALLEY**

"You're finally up. I was getting worried."

Bellamy opened his eyes to see Gina standing next to his bed. "How long was I sleeping?" he asked, looking around the bedroom. It was light and spacious, nothing like every single room he slept in living in Troit. There wasn't just bed in there, no. It looked like a whole damn house with a table and chairs, a big chest of drawers and a bathroom separate from the bedroom by the green-painted wooden doors.

"Twelve hours, I think."

 _Twelve hours?_ That was definitely too long. He needed to leave and start looking for Octavia _right then_.

He got up from the bed, seeing that all his wounds were precisely bandaged and all of the blood and dirt was gone from his body. He wasn't sure when he fell asleep. It had to be after he helped Gregory Martin burn the bodies of the soldiers and they all sat down in the living room surrounded by silence. Someone must have carried him to the bed.

Bellamy grabbed his coat that was hanged over one of the chairs and he was good to go. There was no need for him to stay there any longer.

Gina watched him with a frown. "What are you doing?" she asked, standing in the doorway and blocking his way.

"Leaving" he muttered as he tried to sidestep her.

"Excuse me?"

He stood in place in front of her. He _really_ didn't have time to be polite or explain himself to her, but decency required him to at least say _thank you_. "Look," he started, staring down at her. "I'm really grateful for what you did for me, but I have to go. Now, could you please-"

"No" she interrupted in the middle of his sentence as she crossed her arms. "You can't leave before we talk."

He knew that she was right and that him and her whole family really needed to talk after the previous night's events, but that wasn't his biggest concern. The only thing that mattered to him was finding his sister. "Why is that?" he asked, playing dumb.

She laughed bitterly. "Why? We committed a crime together!"

He wanted to say something, but he knew he wouldn't come up with anything that would let him skip talking to them. Gina was right. "Alright" he sighed, throwing his coat back on the chair. "Let's talk."

She walked out of the room wordlessly and he assumed she was taking him downstairs. He followed her, observing the indoors on their way. The mansion was so colorful in the daylight he almost found it hard to believe that this many colors existed.

They walked to the living room where mister and missus Martin were already waiting for them. Gina sat down on the couch next to her mother and Bellamy found his place on one of the exquisite armchairs.

Gregory cleared his throat before he started talking, "So, boy" he started, eyeing Bellamy carefully now in the daylight. He still didn't look like he trusted him at all, but Bellamy couldn't blame him. "I believe we have some things to discuss."

"I believe so, sir" Bellamy agreed, straightening his spine. He had no idea what they wanted from him and where that conversation was heading.

"Tell me," Gregory said, noticing that Bellamy wouldn't tell him anything unless he asked. "Who are you? Where are you from?"

"My name is Bellamy" he introduced himself shortly. "Bellamy Blake. I'm from Ice Nation."

"Ice Nation" Gregory repeated. "That would explain... Your skills." Bellamy wasn't sure what the man meant by _skills_ , but he decided not to dwell on that. "You don't look like Azgeda."

"My mother doesn't come from Azgeda" Bellamy told him. Even though he didn't get any looks from his mother, it was just easier to take her as an excuse. It's not like he knew anything about his father.

"And who's your father?" Gregory asked as if he was reading Bellamy's mind.

"I've never met him" he answered, cause he didn't see the point of lying to them. Information about his father wouldn't change anything, anyway, especially when even Bellamy didn't know who that was.

"So a bastard, then" Gregory noted, making Bellamy's face twist in grimace. He hated that term and how degrading it sounded.

"You're not telling the truth" missus Martin interrupted, narrowing her eyes at Bellamy. "Bastards don't have names."

Bellamy wondered whether he should say something about the way they used _bastard_ almost as an insult, he had a few snarky comments on his mind already. But he resigned that idea, knowing that fighting with those people would lead him nowhere. "It's the name of my mother's husband" he explained instead. "He let me use it."

"Strange man" Gregory commented. "Alright, Bellamy. Tell me, what did they arrest you for? They said you killed two of them before you came here."

 _Why did they arrest him?_ He tried to find some excuse, because he couldn't tell the Martins _why_ the king himself wanted him dead. No, if he told them that he was the blood of the biggest enemy of the Griffin family, it wouldn't end up well for him. "They wanted to take my sister" he blurted, because he needed a few more seconds to come up with a good reason why the royal army knocked on his door. "I had to stop them."

"Your sister?" Roesia echoed.

"Yes" he said shortly, he didn't want to give them more information than needed.

"But _why_ did they want to take you in the first place? Gina inquired. Bellamy blinked at her dumbly, then opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it. He couldn't think of any other reason for the soldiers to arrest him. "I found this in you pocket" she continued, detecting that he didn't have anything to say. She leaned out to grab something really tiny from the low table in front of her. She exposed that something for him and he recognized the old, tarnished necklace with the effigy of a griffin he bought from Diana Sydney on Unity Day. He truly forgot he had it with him.

"Is that why they took you?" mister Martin asked. It took Bellamy a few seconds to connect the dots. _They thought he got arrested for supporting the Griffins_. Considering all the things they knew about him and the necklace being the obvious sigil of the Griffin family, it wasn't such a crazy idea, he supposed.

"Yes" he mumbled without a flick. It was a good excuse and the Martins weren't going to look down at him for that, as a matter of fact, they could treat him with special respect because of that. "Yes, that's... That's why." He reached his hand to take the necklace from Gina and she gave it to him without questioning him.

Roesia smiled at him warmly, something he didn't deserve at all. "Then you're lucky you got here. Clarke is practically family to us."

He needed a few seconds to understand who she was talking about. _Clarke Griffin_. If they were family then it was another reason for him to leave as soon as possible.

Gregory stood up and walked to the other side of the huge living room. Bellamy's eyes followed him and he noticed that the man grabbed the sword, _Augustus' sword,_ the one the soldiers took away from him back in Troit. "I believe that's yours" mister Martin said, coming back to them.

"It is" Bellamy responded, reaching for the sword.

"It has Azgeda's coat of arms on the hilt" Gregory noted, surveying the weapon carefully. Being a soldier he must have known much more about it than Bellamy did. "Do you serve in the army?"

"No. The sword... It belonged to Augustus" he answered truthfully. "My sister's father" he added, realizing that they couldn't know who Augustus was. "He left it to us when he died."

"Why are you using it, then?"

Bellamy frowned. "What?"

"You shouldn't use a sword that doesn't belong to you" Gregory said. "It's the matter of honor."

 _Honor?_ Bellamy could never afford to care about it. "With all the respect, I don't care about honor. I needed to keep my sister safe and that's what I did."

Gregory looked like he'd never been more confused in his entire life. "You don't _care_ about honor?"

"No" Bellamy said calmly, even though he felt more and more irritated by that pointless conversation. "And neither do you, sir, considering what happened here last night."

That was it, he made a step to far. He prepared himself for them throwing him out of their house, but once again, those people surprised him. "You're right, boy" mister Martin finally responded. "That wasn't an honorable fight. The things we'd do for family, right?" Bellamy just nodded, since he didn't know what he should say to that.

"No one can ever find out about what happened here last night" the man continued. "But I feel like you already know that."

"I do, sir."

"Then I believe it's all settled then. We'll be happy to take you in as long as you wish."

A part of him really wished he could stay, but that wasn't an option. "Look, I'm really thankful for everything" he said, getting up from the comfortable armchair. "And I wish I could stay here longer." That was half a lie and half the truth. He normally would love to stay there as long as possible, for the simple fact that he'd never had such a comfortable bed and delicious food. But he had to find Octavia first and that was his priority.

Gina raised her brow at him. "But..?"

"I need to find my sister" he stated. No need to lie to them about that. "I have to leave, I'm sorry."

Both mister and missus Martin nodded at him. They didn't try to stop him and he was thankful for that. He grabbed his - _Augustus's -_ sword and headed upstairs to take all of his things from his bedroom. He was going to leave, when Gina appeared in the doorway, blocking his way _again_.

"Do you know where she is now?" she asked. "Your sister."

He shook his head. "No" he answered and only then did he realize that he _didn't know_ where to look for Octavia. She could have been everywhere at that point.

"Then don't go. There's no point in looking for her if you don't know where to look. You won't find her."

He blinked at her, reluctant to believe that she just said what she said. Did she not understand how important that was? He didn't care if he'd spend years looking for Octavia. He couldn't leave her alone. "I have to try."

"Let Clarke handle it."

Let _Clarke_ handle _what?_

"She can find her, if you ask her to" Gina added, seeing Bellamy's confused expression. "She has people, she can-"

"I don't think..." he interrupted her. Clarke Griffin looking for his sister was the last thing he needed. "I don't think that's necessary."

"You just said-"

"I just think she has better things to do" he said, hoping that this excuse would be good enough. "She doesn't even know me, I don't think she'd be interested in helping me."

"But she knows _me_ " she insisted. "And if I ask her to, she will help you."

Bellamy didn't get why Gina wanted to help him so badly. "Why are you insisting on this?" he asked her straight out. "You don't even know me."

"Why is it so strange?"

"Well..." he hesitated for a second. "I guess I'm not used to people being selfless" he said shortly, bypassing her. "Thank you, but... I really need to go."

"Wait," she stopped him by grabbing his wrist. "Just stay here a few days. Five soldiers came to Azgeda to bring you to the king and they won't come back. They'll be looking for you. You're safer here."

As much as he didn't want to admit it, what Gina said was sensible. They would come back to Troit to look for him, he was sure of that.

"You won't find your sister if you're dead, you know" she added and he couldn't argue with that. She wasn't wrong.

"Okay" he sighed, once again leaving his coat on the armchair. 

***

No matter how many times Bellamy tried to deny it, staying at the Martins wasn't at all bad.

He got to stay in the bedroom that was bigger than his entire house back in Troit. More than that, he had his own bathroom where he could take baths anytime he wanted. The food there was delicious and he could eat as much as he wanted, not having to worry about whether he could afford it or not. He even was allowed ask a servant to bring him anything he wanted, although he didn't use that opportunity much.

The Martins' hospitality was almost overwhelming.

Gregory still didn't completely trust him, but Roesia seemed to absolutely adore him. Maybe it was because she was a kind woman in general, but every time she talked to him or even sent him a smile, he felt much more warmth than his mother ever provided him.

And then there was Gina. He spent most of his time at the Martins' manor with her. He liked her, he really did. She was becoming a friend to him really quickly.

The mansion was so big he could easily get lost there. He walked down the hallway in the evening, heading towards his room. He wasn't sure whether he should turn left or right. He reflected upon it for a good minute, but then he gave up, knowing that he didn't remember where to go. He turned left then, hoping that he guessed it right. The corridor didn't look any different from the one he was used to going down through the day, but that could be the fault of the darkness. He got to the door that he was pretty sure led to his room and he opened it.

As soon as he did so, he realized that he wasn't his bedroom. The one he came in was a bit smaller and instead of lots of green and blue that dominated in the bedroom he was staying at, that one was painted in orange and had a lot of red elements in it.

But the most important thing, there was someone inside. A woman that couldn't be older than him was buried under the blankets of the huge bed, deep asleep. He couldn't see too many details in the dim light of the candles, just that she had brown hair and a slim, regular face. To be fair, she was really beautiful.

"Bellamy?" he heard a voice behind him that he quickly recognized as Gina's. He turned around, taking his eyes off the sleeping woman. "What are you doing?"

"I thought it was my room" he explained himself, realizing how weird he must have looked, standing over a sleeping woman and staring at her. "I turned in the wrong direction" he added, already closing the door behind him.

"Oh, okay" she sighed rather relieved. "I can lead you to your bedroom." He nodded in response and she led them on the way to his actual room. Bellamy tried to get to remember the way, but he was quite sure it wouldn't be the last time he mixed directions.

"Who was that?" he asked as she opened the door. "I haven't seen her before."

"Oh, that's Raven" Gina answered as she entered the room in order to light some candles. "She got here right after Clarke left."

He walked into the room after Gina, leaving the doors open. "Why is she here?" he inquired, hoping he didn't sound too interested. "And why doesn't she eat with us?"

"She's..." she trailed off, taking a seat on one of the armchairs. "She can't walk. An accident or something... I don't really know."

"Oh."

"We found her on the street nearby and decided to take care of her" she explained. "She doesn't like to talk much, I think she's still shocked by the whole situation."

Bellamy wasn't sure what to say. "That's...That's awful" he opted for.

"Yeah" she agreed. "I wrote a letter to Clarke to ask if she has some better healers that would help Raven. She probably does."

"You are good friends with her" he noted, sitting on the armchair next to her. "The Griffin princess."

She nodded. "I am."

"How... How's that possible?" he asked the question that didn't leave his head for the last few days. The reality of being a _princess_ was so distant for him, he couldn't imagine her having any family or friends. Being a part of royalty in his mind meant only the great wars and conquers he read about in his books. "I mean, she's a Griffin."

Gina shook her arms. "I never thought about it this way" she said. "We met two years ago, right after her father died and she was just a girl who lost her parent. She's lived here since then."

"She lived _here_?" he echoed. A part of him that grew up reading the stories about her family couldn't process the fact that he, _he_ was staying in the same house the Griffin princess lived in for years.

But the other part reminded him that _he_ wasn't a _nobody_ either. That _he_ was a descendant of a former king, just like she was.

Gina laughed slightly at his astonishment. "It was her room, actually."

He looked around. "Really? I'm staying in the princess's room?"

"You are" she confirmed, still clearly amused at the fact that he was so excited about that. "She left a lot of her things here. Like, on the bedside table there is her sketchbook" she added, pointing at the mentioned piece of furniture where a small book was lying.

"What is she like?" he asked. He knew he'd never even meet her anyway, but he really wanted to find out something about her from someone who truly knew her. If she was going to sit on the throne someday, then he'd be able to say he knew the queen almost as if they were friends once. Quite a thing to be proud of.

Unless she somehow found out who he was, _that he even existed_ , and ordered to execute him. Then he'd be able to say he knew a lot about the person who got him dead.

"She's probably the strongest person I've ever met" Gina answered. "And she's determined. There's nothing that could really stop her from taking what she wants. She'll be a good queen."

For some reason, he felt that Gina was right. Clarke Griffin had to be determined to take back the throne from the people who'd killed her entire family. "I don't doubt that."

"She'd like you, you know" she stated all of sudden.

Like? She'd never _like_ him, not knowing who he really was. "Why'd you think so?" he asked, just because he was really curious about the answer.

She smiled slightly. "Intuition. I think I should go" she informed him, getting up from the armchair. She walked to the door, but she didn't leave, not yet. "This isn't why they wanted you" Gina said before going as she turned her head to him. "Am I right?"

"What?" he muttered bluntly. _Was it really that obvious_?

"You didn't even know the Griffins were still alive, did you?" she asked rhetorically and he responded with silence. There was no point in lying to her at that points Just when he was sure she'd kick him out of the house, she spoke again. "Don't worry, I won't tell my parents."

She was about to leave when Bellamy stopped her. "Why?" he called, because he couldn't see a reason for her to keep him in her house.

"Because I believe that whatever reason you have to lie, it's not something that'd be harmful to us" she said. "Butt you're not saying the truth because it's harmful to you" she added as the afterthought. Bellamy was surprised by how perceptive she was. "Right?"

"You could say so."

She simply nodded at him. She didn't look angry or disappointed with him and he was glad about that. "I'll prepare you a horse and you'll be good to leave in a few days. Goodnight, Bellamy" she said, leaving him alone in the room.

Soon Bellamy decided that he had nothing better to do than lying in his bed. He grabbed the book - _The Tales of Fire_ \- that somehow survived his journey from Azgeda, hidden safely in the pocket of his coat. However, after reading a page he closed it and put it back on the bedside table. He couldn't focus on reading.

He hesitated a little before taking Clarke Griffin's sketchbook to his hands. He opened it and started surveying the drawings carefully. He was no connoisseur, but as far as he knew, she was quite an artist. There were drawings of a lot of different people, both men and women, some of them deadly serious, other laughing. There were all kind of landscapes in the sketchbook too, so he assumed she'd seen a lot of places in her life.

The way she captured all these moments in her drawings was quite fascinating. Bellamy only ever used his own memory to remember places and people. Some of their faces became blurry and unclear as the time went by, his head failing to remember them all correctly. But Clarke Griffin kept them all on the paper, the memory of them frozen in one book.

Perhaps there were some things that he could learn from her, if only were the circumstances different. 

***

**POLIS**

Mornings were always beautiful in Polis. The warm rising sun was piercing through the thin curtains covering the windows, slightly illuminating the insides of the royal palace and waking up John Murphy Lightbourne from his sleep.

He turned around slightly to see a naked woman lying down next to him, sleeping soundly. One of his many maids, Emori, who also happened to be his lover for the past few months.

The peaceful morning didn't last long though, it never really did. John heard someone knocking on his door, so he swiftly hopped of the bed and put on the first robe he saw. He walked to the door and opened it, standing in the doorway in the way that he would completely cover the sight of Emori in his bed. It wasn't very well seen for the servants to get involved with the royal family.

"Your father requires your presence, your grace" a servant who's name he didn't even know said as soon as he opened the door. "Fifteen minutes, in his office."

John looked over his shoulder to glance at Emori. He would much rather spend the morning with her than with his father. "How about you go there instead, Carl?" he asked the man, calling him the first name that came to his mind. "You look like a nice guy, I think my father would enjoy your company."

"My name is John, your grace" the man corrected him with a straight face.

"See? You even have the same name as me, my father won't see a difference" he responded, just about to close the door and ignore his father's request. But the servant stopped him again, placing his leg in the doorway so that John couldn't close the door.

"The king said it's urgent."

 _Weird thing,_ he thought. _The king_ never wanted him to attend a meeting that was _urgent_. Perhaps he finally decided that his son was capable of doing anything useful.

"Alright" he sighed. "Thirty minutes and I'm in his office."

"His highness the king said fifteen" the servant - _John -_ protested. "I think it's ten now."

"His highness the king can wait" John said shortly, mocking the guy. He shut the door and walked back to the bed where Emori was watching him, awakened by his conversation.

She raised her brow at him. "Something urgent, huh? What can that be?"

His mouth twisted in a smirk. "I don't know, maybe he's dying" John stated half jokingly. After a second thought he realized that it could actually be a reason his father wanted to him.

"You don't look concerned" she pointed out.

"For all I care, he can die already" he said nonchalantly, finding his place back on the bed, lying on top of her. "I'll get to spend more time with you when he's gone" he murmured as he kissed her slowly on the pulse point on her neck.

"You shouldn't say so" she whispered, pulling him up gently by his chin so she could look him in the eyes. "You don't mean it."

He send her a soft smile. "What if I do?"

"Then you should think about your priorities, _your grace_."

He laughed slightly and lowered his face to kiss her. He wished he could stay there whole morning with her, but he could only imagine how mad his father would be if he disobeyed him. With that thought, he broke away from her. "I have to go." She only nodded slightly and let him get off the bed. She watched him as he was putting on his fine clothes and shoes.

"When will I see you again?" she asked.

"I'll come back here as soon as possible. You can stay here."

"I don't think I should" she said, getting up from the bed. He couldn't help but watch as she walked around his chamber completely naked, grabbing her clothes from the floor. "I wouldn't want anyone to see me here."

"Right." He, being a prince, wasn't risking anything at all by seeing her, but she had a reputation that could be easily ruined if anybody found out about what they were doing. "Then I guess I'll see you in the evening" he said before leaving her alone in his bedroom. 

***

Russell was already waiting for John, when he showed up thirty minutes later. He chose to go slowly and take a roundabout way, just to make his father wait a little longer.

The king wasn't alone in his office, there was a soldier sitting on one of the comfortable armchairs. John quickly recognized Sinclair, the commander of the royal army.

"Son" Russell welcomed him without so much of a glance. "You're late."

"I had some things to do" he answered shortly, taking a sit on the armchair next to Sinclair. "What do you want?"

Russell sent a knowing look to the soldier as a sign for him to speak. "A letter came today" Sinclair started. "From the men sent to Azgeda." John quickly realized what that was about. The children of Aurora Lightbourne. "They found the boy, but he killed two of them before they caught him." Apparently, _Bellamy_ and his sister weren't _just_ some defenseless kids. "They stopped in Shallow Valley for the night, but they haven't returned yet."

"What do _I_ have to do with it?" John interrupted. "You know very well what I think about it."

"The place they stayed in is four, maybe five days travel from Polis" Russel explained. "They should be here already. Something had to happen on the way."

"What a shame" he muttered sarcastically. "Is that all?"

His father sent him a disapproving look, making him go quiet immediately. "No. I'm sending soldiers two Shallow Valley and you'll go with them."

 _Him?_ His father never gave him such an important task. "Me?"

"Yes, you, John. It's time for you to finally become a man."

He pretended that his words didn't touch him at all. "What do you expect me to do?"

"They stopped at the Martins' mansion" Russell said, but John didn't feel elucidated. "A family known for supporting the Griffins. You'll go there and see it the boy is there. Kill the rest."

"Kill the rest?" John echoed. "You don't even know if they did something wrong."

"I don't have time to dwell on that."

"But-"

"This conversation is over" Russell interrupted him before he could even form a proper response. _How typical of him_. "You're leaving today. Sir Sinclair, give your men an order to kill the Martins. And not to listen to my son."

"Why are you even sending me there if I'm not allowed to do anything?" John snapped at him, very much done with the way his father treated him.

"You have to learn how _real_ life looks like. You're not a baby anymore, you're a man and you should start acting like one."

Of course, there couldn't be a conversation with either of his parents that wouldn't end up with them feeling him how disappointed they were with him. "I believe we're done, son" Russell added since John remained silent. "You're free to go."

Fighting the urge to say something _very_ inappropriate, he left his father's office, boiling with anger.  
  
  


***

**MOUNT WEATHER**

The Mount Weather castle was built by the Griffins hundreds of years beforehand, during Xalvador's reign. Because the family clan was destroyed shortly after Praimfaya, it was placed in Podakru led by the Collinses. Technically, it didn't belong to the Lake Clan, being the separate area where the Griffins wielded authority, but the moment the royal family was slaughtered, the Lightbournes gave Mount Weather to the Collinses.

It was there where the whole family used to live, besides the royal couple and their children, of course. Clarke heard that her family was big. It had been hundreds of years since Xalvador, so the house of Griffin managed to grow. But they were all killed within one night when the Lightbournes' soldiers stormed into Mount Weather and slaughtered everyone. They had no chances, since their almost whole army was fighting in Polis - the fight they lost anyway, being too surprised by the sudden attack.

When Clarke first saw the facade of the building, she was mesmerized. She'd never seen a castle so big, the one she'd seen in Podakru wasn't even close to being as huge and monumental. Mount Weather was more similar to the royal palace in Polis than any other building in Arkadia.

They all got inside - her, Kane, Finn and Dante with dozens of his soldiers and servants. Clarke was the first one to walk through the majestic gates. She moved slowly through the corridor, admiring the old, richly decorated walls, august monuments and the paintings of her family members, all of them looking down at her with numb expressions captured by the painters.

Wide corridors led them to the throne room. The throne was build with fine granite and gold en decorative finish. It was placed on the high platform with narrow stairs made of marble that one had to use in order to get to the chair. Two sculptures of the dangerously looking griffins - the symbol of her family - were standing on both sides of the throne as if they were there to protect their queen.

"The lords and ladies of Mount Weather used to sit on this throne for generations" she heard Kane explaining. "It belongs to you now, your grace."

Clarke walked up the stairs slowly, her heart hammering in her chest. It was the first time she'd get to sit on a throne, it was a huge breakthrough for her.

She got on the platform and placed her hand on the armrest of the throne, surveying it carefully. It was that piece of furniture that the Griffins used to sit on and see the visitors, give out orders, _rule_. The lords and ladies of Mount Weather weren't as important as the kings and queens, of course, but she heard they had a big role in ruling Arkadia.

She slowly turned around and sat down on the throne. When she looked down at the people that came there with her, she felt much _bigger_ than all of them. She felt _like a queen._

"Mount Weather got its ruler back, my lord" she referred to Dante. "From now on, every single person that comes here answers to me, and only me."

"I wouldn't wish for it to look otherwise, your grace" Dante responded, but she didn't think he meant what he said.

It didn't matter, though. She was the queen now and whether he wanted to or not, he had to accept that. 

***

One day later, she was already getting to know the building. It was huge, easy to get lost in, but she had a good memory to things like that; since the moment she came there, she didn't mix the directions once.

She was standing on the balcony, watching the gardens. They had to be magnificent once, but years of being uncared-for made them loose their charm. However, she hoped that they still could be saved, it would make the place look much more pleasant. Similar to the house she lived in with her father, where the garden was always green and beautiful.

"I wrote the letter to our best gardener" she heard a voice behind her which she recognized as Finn's. He walked towards her and stood right beside her, taking a look at the gardens as well. "They will come here as soon as possible to take care of these. They will do whatever you want."

It was nice of him, she supposed. A small, but meaningful gesture. A good start of their life together. "Thank you, my lord" she said, smiling slightly at him.

"You can call me by my name, you know that?"

"You're a little casual."

He chuckled. "Is that so bad?"

"It is when you're about to be a king."

"And _we're_ about to be married" he said, drawing her attention to him. She didn't know where he was going with that and what his intentions were, she didn't know him, after all. "I think we can talk to each other like normal people."

He was probably right. They were to be married some day, whether they wanted it or not. Perhaps they should learn how to live with each other. "You're right." He laughed gently, making her frown. "Why are you laughing?"

"Sorry. I just never expected I would marry a princess, I'm not even the first born son. It would be normal if it was Cage-"

"I'm glad it's you, not Cage" she told him and she really meant that. She didn't know much about Finn Collins, but one thing she knew was that he was a much better man than his brother. "He doesn't seem to enjoy my company."

"My brother is... A difficult man." Clarke supposed that _difficult_ wasn't enough to describe Cage, but she decided not to comment on that. "I'll do my best to be more affectionate towards you than he is."

She genuinely smiled at him. That was a start. She talked to Finn for some more time and it wasn't as difficult as she thought it would. Those were mostly some small talks about unimportant matters, but it was good enough.

About half an hour later, they were interrupted by no one else but Marcus Kane. He walked in her direction with a bunch of letters in his hand. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, your grace," She found it strange that him referring to her as _your grace_ was so natural, as if it was the way he had always called her. "But letters came to you from Shallow Valley" he informed her, handing her the envelopes.

"If you excuse me" she said, glancing at Finn and he only nodded, signaling her that he was okay with her opening them at the moment.

All of the letters were written by Gina. The first one was short, most of it filled by questions about Podakru and the Collinses. The next one, sent three days later, said about some girl Gina found in the town. Apparently, _Raven,_ because that was her name, was paralyzed and needed a doctor immediately. Gina was asking her to find someone who could help her, so she kept it in her memory to ask her fiancé about it.

The third letter was different. There were no questions in it, no _we miss you_ messages. There was short, simple information. _The royal army came to our house today, requesting a sojourn. A lot of things happened, dad had to kill them. We might be in danger. I'll tell you more when I see you again._

When Clarke was done reading it, she looked up at Kane who was observing her, clearly confused about her worried expression. "I need to get to Shallow Valley as soon as possible" she said, placing the letters back in the envelopes.

"Why?" Finn asked, disoriented as well.

"My friends, they are in danger" she explained shortly. "I need to get a ship and go there."

Marcus wasn't satisfied with her answer."What happened?" She handed him the letter and he read it silently. "I'll go there."

"No, I need you to stay here." While thinking about her friends, she still needed to consider her situation. She'd just gotten there, she couldn't leave already. Or at least, she couldn't leave Mount Weather filled with people she didn't trust. There had to be someone there, keeping order while she was gone, someone she trusted. And Kane happened to be the only person there who had her trust. "I'll take soldiers with me."

"I'll come with you" Finn offered, surprising her. He really didn't have to do that, but she wasn't about to decline him. "I'll have a ship prepared and we'll be in Shallow Valley by tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you, Finn." She was truly grateful to him for being so invested. She doubted that his father is his older brother would do the same thing. Finn left her with Kane then, heading to send a message to prepare a ship.

Kane crossed his arms. "Why don't you want me to come with you?"

"Because," she sighed. "I don't trust Dante enough to leave him here. I trust you though."

He shook his head disapprovingly. "You're acting like he was going to still the throne and leave."

Again, she felt annoyed that he didn't share the lack of trust towards the Collinses with her. "This is my decision, Kane" she told him calmly, in a way that wouldn't expose her irritation. "You'll stay here when I'm gone. You're free to go now."

He only sighed and said nothing as he turned around and walked away from her, and she watched him leaving her alone. She couldn't deal with her conflicts with him at the moment she had much more important matters on her mind.

She could only hope that the danger the Martins were in was only created in her head, and that once she got to Shallow Valley, everything would be just fine. 

***

**SHALLOW VALLEY**

A few days later, Bellamy said his goodbyes to the Martins and left their manor once and for  
good.

Just like she'd promised, Gina kept his secret. In the evening, she walked with him to the town that was placed about fifteen minutes from her home. She already had a horse prepared for him and even some money she insisted he took. He tried to decline it many times, but he finally gave up and decided to politely accept it. He needed the money anyway.

"Your horse" Gina said, showing him a magnificent black horse. "Should be strong enough to take you back to Azgeda."

"It's beautiful. Thank you."

They stood there in silence for a minute or two, neither of them knowing what to say. "Well, I guess this is a goodbye" she finally stated.

He nodded. "It seems so."

"I hope you'll have a safe journey. And that you'll find your sister."

He smiled at her and nodded again, taking his time to figure out what to say. It was a peaceful, warm goodbye and he wasn't used to those. "Well, I wish you all the best" he opted for. "And thank you. For everything."

Then she did something he didn't expect her to do. She leaned a little and left a soft kiss on his cheek. "What was that for?" he muttered when she backed up, not used to people being so... Affectionate.

"For a farewell" she said simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Goodbye, Bellamy."

"May we meet again" he responded, reaching his hand to shake her forearm. She guickly followed his movements and after saying their last goodbyes, Bellamy hopped on the horse and was ready to go. So he grabbed the reins and rode off, leaving Gina behind. 

***

Bellamy didn't hurry on his way back home. After about fifteen minutes of riding, he decided that he should buy himself some food before leaving the town. He didn't know how much time would pass before he'd see some tavern again.

He grabbed the bag that Gina had given to him to get some money from it. He saw that, by accident, he put there a sketchbook, the same one that belonged to Clarke Griffin herself. He must have taken it alongside with his book.

He deliberated whether he should go back to the manor and return it. He decided that maybe it'd be better if he didn't have anything that belonged to the princess with him. The sketchbook could have some value to her and who knows, maybe she'd want to her it back if she knew it was taken. He didn't need her to hunt him down.

He made his horse turn around and headed back to the Martins' house. 

***

John walked into the Martins' manor later than all of the soldiers sent there with him.

Part of him didn't want to watch what was about to happen there. Not when he wanted to stop it, but was absolutely _powerless._ Being a prince, he wasn't used to being helpless and so out of control. Since all of his life he was getting almost everything he could wish for, he absolutely _hated_ the feeling of being incapable of making decisions.

Another part of him wanted to disobey his father's orders, have some sort of satisfaction from not doing what he wanted him to do.

So he stayed outside the house, doing his best to ignore the sounds of literal slaughter. About half an hour later he decided to go inside to see if the soldiers did what had to be done. He walked past the dead bodies of people he assumed were servants.

It wasn't a difficult or traumatic experience. He was used to death and executions.

To his surprise, it wasn't done yet. There was still one person alive, a young woman, although she was forced on her knees with a sword kept firmly at her neck, ready to take her life away. She was squeaking and crying mercilessly, looking down at the floor where to people were lying with blood forming dark patches around their heads. "Who is that?" he asked, even though he was quite sure he knew the answer.

"Her name is Gina Martin, your grace" Sinclair responded. "She just got back from town. We thought that she'd gives us some information, but it seems that we should just kill her and leave it."

"Wait" John said squatting in front of the woman. "Gina. I'm sorry about what happened here. Believe me."

On some level, he really felt sorry for her. No one deserved to lose their family that way.

She _spat_ in his face in response. "You're sorry?" she yelped. "You're _sorry_?"

"I didn't want any of these to happen" he tried to explain himself, wiping her spit from his face. "These are my father's orders, not mine." He didn't usually try to explain himself to anybody, he didn't feel the need to. But there was a young, vulnerable woman kneeling in front of him, a person who had just witnessed her parents' execution. And he was sure she never did a wrong thing in her life. What happened to her wasn't even remotely fair.

" _Fuck_ you" she hissed, not even trying to act like she had any respect towards him. Fair enough. "Tell the king to go fuck himself too, _your grace."_ Her voice sounded like venom when she said the last words.

"Listen, girl" Sinclair sighed, squatting next to John. "Tell us where is the boy. His name is Bellamy, I believe."

She looked frankly shocked at his request, but she remained silent. Sinclair repeated the question, but she still didn't answer.

"She won't tell us anything" John interrupted before Sinclair could repeat himself for the third time. "Just drop it."

"I'm sorry, your grace" Sinclair protested. "I got my orders from the king." The moment he said it, John could hear the sound of squeaking floor from the corridor, he was sure of that.

Someone else was there. But having a feeling of who that might be, he didn't intend to inform his - _his father's -_ men about it.  
  


***

When Bellamy returned to the manor, he found a dozen of horses standing nearby. That couldn't mean anything good.

He should have just rode off as fast as possible. But something told him to get off his own horse and see what was happening inside. The Martins had been so good to him, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he left them in trouble. Especially the trouble caused by _him_.

As soon as he got to the doorframe, he saw the corpses lying on the wooden floor. He moved forward as quietly as he could, as if that sight wasn't enough to change his mind.

It was when he got to the living room when he saw a tragedy. A dozen of soldiers were standing there over Gregory and Roesia's dead bodies. One of them was holding Gina down with a sword on her neck. There was also another person, who didn't look like a soldier of any kind.

Without thinking twice, he hid behind the wall that divided the living room from the hall. His head was spinning and he could only hope no one heard him breathing heavily or his heartbeat that was beating so loud it could be taken for a bell.

"I'm sorry, your grace. I got my orders from the king."

 _Your grace. Your grace_. Bellamy's head was working frantically. If they referred to him as _your grace_ , then... Then it couldn't be anyone else than John Lightbourne, the son of the king.

"You don't need to kill her" he said. "Just tell my father that she's dead and he won't find out."

 _Did he really insist on keeping her alive?_ Bellamy wouldn't expect that from a prince.

"The king told me specifically to kill everyone but the boy and that's what I'm going to do."

 _The boy_. It didn't take Bellamy more than a second to realize who he was talking about. It was about _him._ The Martins and all of their servants were dead because of _him._

He couldn't let Gina die for him too.

"Goddamnit, just listen to me" the prince protested again, but none of the soldiers seemed to actually _listen_.

"Your father ordered to hold you down if you protest" one of the soldiers responded, a bit amused. How could anyone be _amused_ in a situation like that?

"That won't be necessary" John Lightbourne huffed. "Gina, just tell us where Bellamy is."

At that moment Bellamy leaned a little to watch. He grabbed his sword just in case someone noticed, but no one payed attention to the doorframe.

No one but Gina.

Somehow, she caught the sight of him immediately. He waited for some sign from her, anything, since he didn't know what he was supposed to do. He couldn't take down dozen of soldiers, he didn't stand a chance against them.

Gina shook her head slightly, almost unnoticeably. _No,_ that was her answer. _There's nothing you can do_. He could see it in her eyes and he hated to admit that _she was right_. "He's not here" she finally answered with a weak voice. She didn't stop looking at him the whole time.

"Alright" one of the men said. "Then this is it. Any last words?"

Bellamy moved unwillingly, unable to just stand there and watch, but Gina once again shook her head at him. For some reason, she _didn't want_ him to even try to save her. He couldn't understand why. "Raven" she stated, and that was it. Raven? A bird? That didn't make any sense to him.

Bellamy turned his head away the second he throat was slit and she fell down on the floor, right next to her parents.

He wasn't able to move for a wile so he tried to gather his thoughts, but it clearly wasn't working. Raven. Raven Raven. What could it mean?

And then he remembered.

 _Raven_.

The woman that was staying at the chamber he accidentally walked to a couple days before. The one that couldn't walk. And apparently, she was still there and Gina's last wish was for him to say it.

He moved at eq we slowly towards the opposite side of the corridor where the staircase was. He was halfway through when he heard the voice from the living room that most likely belonged to the prince, "Wait here. I need to check something."

Bellamy heard footsteps getting louder and he froze, trying to hide behind the chest of drawers that was placed in the corridor. He put one of his hands on the hilt of his sword, but he wasn't sure whether he could use it. Killing a couple of unnamed soldiers was one thing, killing _the prince_ was another.

So he just stayed there, unable to move, waiting for the death to come and take him.

He soon spotted the prince walking right towards him with a torch in his hand. Seconds later he was standing right in front of Bellamy, observing him carefully.

Bellamy was absolutely frozen, watching John Lightbourne reflecting over something in complete silence in front of him. Half a minute passed when he finally did something Bellamy would never expect him to do. He put his index finger on his mouth, signaling him to stay silent. "Go" he mouthed almost inaudibly and slowly, Bellamy started walking backwards, watching the prince setting the chest of drawers on fire.

"It's clear here!" he called out to his soldiers, glancing at Bellamy. "But the fire is about to start. We should go now" he added and nodded at Bellamy. He finally understood that, for some reason, the prince was sparring his life and he rushed to the other side of the corridor to hide from the men leaving the manor. 

***

John knew exactly who he saw there. He wasn't sure why here him go instead of arresting him, though. First possible reason was that he never wanted that guy to be hunted. He didn't think that the son of Aurora Lightbourne could be a real threat to him and his family; John didn't see why he should be killed for that.

Another reason was that, he really wanted his father to be mad. Moreover, he wanted to be the one who made him mad. He was angry at Russell, for the slaughter he made him watch, without a chance to stop it.

Sparing that guy's - his literał cousin's - life was one of few things he actually had control over and he decided to use it against his father. He would probably take every opportunity to make Russell cross.

He hoped that the fire was enough for the soldiers to forget about the Bellamy guy. None of them wanted to die there, besides none of them would think that there could be someone else in the house. And even if someone was there, they wouldn't survive it anyway. Therefore, there was no point for them to stay there any minute longer.

As they were leaving, John looked back at the burning manor. He was pretty sure he saw the guy he left there in one of the windows.

He turned his head back to the road ahead him, smiling slightly to himself. 

***

Fire was catching. It quickly spread to the wooden floors and other furniture.

When Bellamy was sure that no one was in the house anymore, he rushed upstairs to get Raven from her bedroom. When he climbed up the stairs, he stopped for a second. Should he turn left or right? Panic didn't let him think soberly and he couldn't remember which way he should choose.

He turned right then and ran towards Raven's bedroom. When he got there, he opened the door to realize that he mixed directions and he ended up coming to the room that he used to sleep in. "Fuck" he hissed as he quickly turned around, seeing that the fire got to the stairs already, and rushed to the other side of the corridor. He stumbled over a lot of things on his way, cursing every time he did so. Eventually, he got to the right place and pushed the door, running into the room.

"Raven?"

He saw that she was curled up in the bed holding a knife, probably the one she used for eating. She looked up at him, raising the weapon, ready to attack.

"It's okay, Raven" he said, raising his hands to show her that he wasn't armed. "I'm here to help you."

She surveyed him for a few seconds. "Are you Bellamy?"

He was a bit surprised that she knew who he was, but then he realized that she probably knew about him from Gina. "Yes, and we need to get out of here, right now."

"Where's Gina?" she inquired, frowning. "What's going on?"

"Gina..." he trailed off, because he didn't want to say it out loud. Then it would become real. But Raven was looking at him expectantly, and he couldn't lie to her. "She's dead. There's a fire coming here, we need to get out." He tried to keep his voice stoic, but he was pretty sure he failed.

"Dead?" Raven gasped. "How..."

"I'll tell you everything when we get  
out."

"I..." she hesitated. "I can't walk."

"I'll carry you" Bellamy proposed. "Just trust me, okay?"

Raven nodded slightly and let him pick her up from the bed. He put one hand under her knees and the other un her back, holding her like a husband holds his newly married wife. She folded her arms around his neck to keep balance and he rushed towards the door, keeping her firmly. He didn't need to go far to see that the fire was already there, trapping them inside Raven's bedroom. "Fuck" he cursed, going back inside and shutting the door, in hopes that it would slow the fire down.

"Breathe" Raven said when he started pacing around the room, trying to find a solution. "Don't panic." She looked completely calm, keeping her cools, and Bellamy wondered whether she was just pretending or she really wasn't even a bit worried.

Seconds had passed and he realized that their only escape was the window. "Window" he told her. "We have to go through the window."It occurred to him that there was no way she was climbing down, not when she couldn't even walk. "I'll climb down and then you'll jump and I'll catch you."

"What if you don't catch me?"

He walked to the window and looked down at the ground. It was quite high and there wasn't anything to amortize the fall. If he didn't catch her, then she would most likely not survive it. "I will" he assured her instead. "I promise."

Raven didn't have any other choice but to agree, so he carefully put her down on the windowsill and got out of it himself. He counted to three, doing his best to stay calm and started climbing down the wall, thanking the gods that the rocks used to build the manor were uneven. He cursed when he almost flipped, but somehow he managed to keep his balance and when he thought he was low enough, he jumped down to the ground. His legs still hurt a little at the force of the fall, but he didn't pay attention to that. He had yet the most difficult thing to do - he had to make sure Raven survived it.

"Come on, you can jump" he called to her, preparing himself to catch her. He'd never done anything similar in his life, so he wasn't sure how to position himself. He extended his hands forward, praying that it was enough.

Raven was hesitant to jump, clearly. He couldn't blame her, she had to know that there was no assurance that he'd catch her. "Trust me, it'll be fine" he encouraged her, assuring both her and himself that he could do it.

She finally nodded and after giving him a sign, slipped off the windowsill, trusting him to save her.

He caught her. The force of the fall knocked him down, making her collapse on top of him. They both came out of it aching, but at least they both came out of it alive.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he helped her get off him.

"I think so." She glanced back at the mansion, now completely devoured by fire. All the people, _dead people,_ inside were for sure turned into ashes already. Bellamy tried not to think about their bodies lying unconsciously on the floor, burning. "What happened here?"

"The royal army. They were looking for... Something." He was ashamed to say that they were all looking for him, therefore it was all his fault. "I don't know exactly."

Raven just nodded in response. He supposed she held more emotions than she showed. "What are you going to do know?" she asked when he stood up from the ground to straighten his legs.

For the matter of fact, he had no idea what he was going to do, not after what he saw just minutes before. The guilt he felt didn't let him leave like nothing had happened. "Not leaving you" he answered, because that was one thing he was certain about. Gina sacrificed her life because she wanted Raven to live and the least Bellamy could go to honour her was making sure that Raven would be okay.

"Weren't you going to Azgeda?" she questioned. "Gina told me that" she added to explain how she came to know that.

"I was" he confirmed. "I can take you with me, if you want."

She blinked at him. "Why would you take me with you?"

"Because, like I said, I'm not leaving you here alone. Gina's last words were to save you."

"So you saw it? You were there when she died?"

She caught him off guard with her question. What was he supposed to tell her? _Yes, I was there. watched it and did nothing to stop it_?

No, he felt too ashamed to say it.

"I couldn't do anything" he muttered. He wanted her to _understand_ that he really didn't want to stand there and watch Gina dying. That he really wished he could have helped her.

Raven seemed to understand it, or at least she pretended to. "We should probably go" she changed the topic .

He nodded. "Yeah." He kneeled next to her to pick her up, when he heard something. He listened for a second and then he was completely sure that there was something, _someone,_ near them. "Wait. Someone's here" he informed Raven, standing up again and pulling out his sword.

"What are you doing?" she hissed disapprovingly. "Let's just go."

He liked that idea, but he couldn't risk that the soldiers came back there. He wouldn't be able to run fast and fight them, not with Raven in his arms. "I'll check who's that. Look, I won't be able to run far with you."

She seemed to quickly realize that he was right. Bellamy wondered if sometimes Raven forgot that she wasn't able to walk. "Okay" she sighed. "Just... Be careful. I don't wanna stay here alone."

He nodded at her and left her there, walking slowly towards the sounds. Several yards later, he caught sight of a person. But it wasn't the prince, or any of his guards. It was a woman, who he strangely felt like he'd seen somewhere before.

Second later he noticed other people, standing much further than her and he realized that she wasn't alone. Whoever those people were, his intuition hinted that they wouldn't just let  
him and Raven leave if they saw them.

With the riskiest plan he could have possibly come up with, he moved quietly towards the woman who didn't seem to notice him in the darkness. 

***

Clarke showed up in Shallow Valley _too late_.

She got to the Martins' mansion to see that the building was completely burnt down. _And so were the people inside._

At first she didn't believe what happened. It was so unrealistic to her, the fact that she came there and they were already gone. When her father died, he died in front of her eyes, so it was way easier to accept it. She saw it, so she couldn't have any doubts, any hopes that somehow his death wasn't real. But this time was different.

When the tragic reality finally hit her, she felt sad. No, _sad_ didn't do her emotions justice. She felt absolutely _devastated_ when she realized that she'd lost the only family she had left aside from Kane. Her eyes filled with tears, but she didn't let them come out.

Torturously slow minutes has passed and the grief was gradually replaced with rage. An incredibly forceful fury filled her body, from head to toes, leaving her feeling like she was about to explode.

She wanted to curl up in the corner and cry for hours long, just like she did after her father died and she was alone in the room for the first time after that happened. She wanted to scream, to hit something, to somehow wreak her anger. But she couldn't. She couldn't show her emotions to Finn and all the other people that came there with her. She was always taught to hide her feelings. A queen had no right to grieve and that was the rule she lived by.

She wished it was as easy to hide emotions in her head as it was on her face.

"Clarke?" Finn walked to her and put his hand on her arm, what she thought was meant to be a comforting gesture.

"I need to be alone" she said shortly. She made a few steps forward and none of those guards followed her, respecting her request. She walked away from them then, going round the destroyed building.

She let the tears fall down her cheeks when she was sure no one could see her. For a moment, she was angry at herself for being there too late, she couldn't help but blame herself for her friends' death.

But then she remembered who was really at fault. _The Lightbournes_.

The very same people who killed her entire family, every single relative she had, they now took away the closest people she had left. She breathed heavily, thinking about those people, that one, cursed family that took everything from her. She found comfort in the thought that someday, she would avenge her family and her friends.

At that very moment, she promised to herself that she'd kill every single Lightbourne that was alive, just like they killed every single family member of hers.

She was just turning around to come back to her fiancé and her people, when all of sudden, she felt a cold metallic blade on her neck and the heat of someone's body behind her.

"Don't move" she heard a deep voice right next to her ear and she realized that _someone_ was keeping a sword on her neck and a firm hand on her forearm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so they meet


End file.
